PRECIOUS-Gold firms as U.S. yields, dollar pause

* Yields in narrow range as investors await economic signals

* Dollar steadies near weakest in about seven weeks

* Spot gold may slide into $1,744-$1,758/oz range – technicals (Recasts, adds comment, updates prices)

April 20 (Reuters) – Gold eked out gains in choppy trading on Tuesday as a rise in U.S. Treasury yields stalled and the dollar held near multi-week lows.

Spot gold gained 0.2% to $1,773.31 per ounce as of 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT), after hitting $1,789.77 on Monday, its highest level since Feb. 25.

U.S. gold futures climbed 0.3% to $1,775.10.

U.S. Treasury yields eased and held in a narrow range as investors awaited further market developments, while the dollar index steadied near its lowest in about seven weeks.

Gold has drawn support from overall weakness in the U.S. dollar index as well as rising crude oil prices, said Kitco Metals senior analyst Jim Wyckoff.

Gold, considered a hedge against inflation given the unprecedented stimulus doled out by central banks, has been in a tussle with yields, since higher yields translate into a higher opportunity cost of holding the non-interest bearing bullion.

“The fact that the bond market has seemed to stabilise a little bit” is helping gold, said StoneX analyst Rhona O’Connell.

Gold can still move higher as “there is too much liquidity in the market and it is going to stay that way for quite some time, even though we have got the green shoots of recovery looking quite strong in certain regions,” O’Connell added.

On a technical note, gold’s failure to break resistance at $1,785 may drive it back to a range of $1,744 to $1,758 per ounce, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.

Silver rose 0.9% to $26.03 per ounce, palladium dropped 1.2% to $2,777.61 and platinum slipped 0.5% to $1,200.79.

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