PRECIOUS-Gold prices tick up as virus fears stoke safe-haven demand

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Gold prices edged up on Monday as rising concerns over the new coronavirus and its impact on global growth outweighed encouraging U.S. economic data and drove purchases of the metal.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was up 0.1% to $1,572.01 per ounce by 0100 GMT. U.S. gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,577.50.

* An advance team of international experts led by the World Health Organization has left for Beijing to help investigate China's coronavirus epidemic, which has claimed more than 900 lives in mainland China, surpassing the death toll from the SARS epidemic.

* Asian shares fell on market fears over rising fatalities due to the onset of coronavirus in China.

* The dollar was near four-month highs after positive U.S. non-farm payrolls data, while fears of the epidemic from China put pressure on the greenback.

* The U.S. Federal Reserve said that the U.S. economy slowed last year on weak global growth, but key risks have receded and the likelihood of recession has declined, although it recognized possible risk of an economic downturn due to the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.

* The coronavirus epidemic continued to stifle activity in the physical gold markets in top bullion consumer China and Hong Kong last week, while demand was mixed in other Asian hubs.

* Hedge funds and money managers cut their bullish positions in COMEX gold contracts in the week to Feb. 4.

* Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund SPDR Gold Trust, rose 0.13% to 916.08 tonnes on Friday.

* U.S. President Donald Trump will propose on Monday a 21% cut in foreign aid and slashes to social safety net programs in his $4.8 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2021.

* Canadian miner Banro is looking to sell its Namoya gold mine in eastern Congo at a significant discount, its chairman told Reuters on Friday, blaming the government's failure to improve security in the area.

* Palladium advanced 0.2% to $2,321.89 an ounce, silver rose 0.2% to $17.71, and platinum edged higher by 0.2% to $966.42. DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0130 China PPI, CPI YY Jan (Reporting by Asha Sistla in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)