Gold heads for first monthly gain since June on Ukraine

Gold hardly moved on Friday but was on track for its first monthly gain since June after some investors ditched equities and poured their money back into gold due to growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Ukraine's president said on Thursday that Russian troops had entered his country in support of pro-Moscow rebels who captured a key coastal town, sharply escalating a separatist war and prompting anger and alarm among Kiev's Western allies.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Gold was little changed at USD 1,290.25 an ounce by 0030 GMT. Gold prices were more than USD 600 below a record hit in 2011.

* US gold was steady at USD 1,291.40 an ounce.

* US investors and traders have filed more than two dozen antitrust lawsuits against the banks involved in setting the London gold and silver fixes, accusing them of colluding to manipulate the global gold and silver price benchmarks.

* The United States is intensifying its push to build an international campaign against Islamic State jihadist fighters in Iraq and Syria, including recruiting partners for potential joint military action, Obama administration officials said on Wednesday.

* World No.2 platinum producer Impala Platinum said on Thursday it had launched a strategic review that could include a shift to mechanisation in the wake of a five-month strike that hit its Rustenburg operations in South Africa.