U.S. economy unexpectedly contracts in the first quarter
Dollar off 20year highs
Silver, platinum also headed for monthly drops

April 29 Reuters Gold rose on Friday as worrying U.S. economic data rekindled some interest in the safehaven metal, but bullion was likely to log its first monthly drop since January on bets for aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Spot gold was up 0.6 at 1,905.67 per ounce, as of 0546 GMT, but had lost about 1.6 so far this month. U.S. gold futures were up 0.9 at 1,908.10.

The disappointing U.S. GDP number could take some pressure off the Fed to tighten quite as aggressively as it has hinted, a rhetoric that has pressured gold in recent weeks, said Ilya Spivak, a currency strategist at DailyFX. 

That has given gold a bit of a lifeline, and knocked the dollar back just a bit. I don39;t expect these moves to continue though, Spivak added.

Fed officials have aligned around plans to accelerate the pace of interest rate hikes this year, but remain split over what could be the makeorbreak decision of where to stop to avoid dragging the economy into recession. 

Higher shortterm U.S. interest rates and bond yields increase the opportunity cost of holding zeroyield bullion.

Gold prices were headed for their first monthly percentage drop since January, with the dollar and U.S. 10year Treasury yields strengthening this month.

A stronger dollar makes greenbackpriced gold less attractive for other currency holders. The dollar…