PRECIOUS-Gold rises ahead of US Fed minutes

*

Gold rebounds from one-week low

*

January FOMC minutes due at 1900 GMT

*

December PCE data due on Friday

(Updates for EMEA mid-session trading)

By Pablo Sinha

Feb 18 (Reuters) -

Gold prices rose more than 1% on Wednesday, rebounding ?from a one-week low hit in the previous ?session, as investors awaited the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's January meeting due later in the ?day.

Spot gold was up 1% at $4,927.19 per ounce by 1240 GMT. U.S. ?gold futures for April delivery gained 0.9% to $4,947.70.

Prices ?falling below $4,900 "has created ?some opportunistic buying in the market," said Bernard Dahdah, an analyst at Natixis, adding that investors ?are positioning themselves ahead of the release ?of January's Fed minutes.

Bullion prices dropped to $4,841.74 per ounce on Tuesday, as a stronger U.S. dollar and easing tensions ?between the United States and Iran dampened ?demand for ?the safe-haven, while many Asian markets were closed for the Lunar New Year.

Investors are also awaiting the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures report ?for December, due on Friday, for cues on the Fed's monetary ?policy this year.

Markets currently expect the first interest rate cut in June, per CME's FedWatch Tool.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee on Tuesday signaled "several more" rate cuts this year if inflation resumes a decline to the ?2% target, ?while Fed Governor Michael Barr said that another rate ?cut could come somewhere well down the road.

Non-yielding bullion tends to ?do well in low-interest-rate environments.

On the geopolitical front, Iran and the U.S. reached an understanding on Tuesday on "guiding principles" for nuclear talks. However, that does not mean a deal is imminent, Iran's foreign minister said.

"Unless there are geopolitical reasons, we don't expect to see the same rally that we saw last year. So we see ?prices averaging around $4,850 this year," Dahdah said.

Spot silver rose 2.9% to $75.59 per ounce after declining more than 5% on Tuesday.

Spot platinum gained 1.9% to $2,045.13 ?per ounce and palladium added 1.7% ?to $1,711.25. (Reporting by Pablo Sinha in Bengaluru; Editing by ?Alexander Smith and Diti Pujara)