* Pressure grows on Portugal to seek EU, IMF help
* Main gold, silver ETFs saw outflows on Friday
(Updates prices)
By Jan Harvey
LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Gold held near $1,370 an ounce in Europe on Monday as concerns about the prospects for Portugal's sovereign debt helped offset downward pressure from a rising dollar.
Spot gold <XAU=> was bid at $1,367.75 an ounce at 1244 GMT, against $1,368.80 late in New York on Friday. U.S. gold futures for February delivery <GCG1> fell $1.50 an ounce to $1,367.40.
Prices last week posted their biggest one-week fall since May 2010 after a run of better-than-expected U.S. data lifted expectations that monetary policy could tighten sooner rather than later. The return of concerns over the euro zone has tempered that dip.
"The escalation of euro zone troubles from here will see a slight price rebound -- maybe not to the (early January) highs, but there is some risk-averse buying," said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital.
"I would be very wary of any sudden moves here, but obviously the market is trying to find some ground," he added.
A senior euro zone source said on Sunday that pressure is growing on Portugal from Germany, France and other euro zone countries to seek financial help from the European Union and International Monetary Fund to stop the bloc's debt crisis from spreading. [
]The euro was down 0.2 percent versus the dollar <EUR=>, after earlier reaching lows not seen since mid-September. [
]A stronger dollar typically pressures gold, because it makes the metal more expensive for holders of other currencies and reduces its appeal as an alternative asset.
When risk aversion grows in the euro zone, it can lift the appeal of both the dollar and gold.
Last year the usual negative correlation between gold and the dollar weakened at times when the euro zone crisis flared up, most notably in the second quarter.
European shares fell for a second session on Monday, while the premium investors that demand to hold Spanish and Italian government bonds rather than German benchmarks rose as a week of heavy bond supply raised tension in the euro zone's higher yielding bond markets. [
] [ ]INDIAN BUYERS ATTRACTED
Buying in India, the world's biggest gold consumer, rose on Monday after last week's price fall attracted buyers back to the market, and traders sought to stock up in anticipation of the upcoming harvest festival and on wedding demand, dealers said. [
]But interest in gold-backed exchange-traded funds continued to be lacklustre, with holdings of the largest, New York's SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, dropping by a further 1.5 tonnes on Friday. [
]Societe Generale said in a weekly note that buying by exchange-traded funds had been markedly slower as prices rose above $1,400 an ounce.
"This, of course, does not necessarily mean that investor appetite has become sated," it said. "ETF purchases, as noted above, were eclipsed by the very strong demand in (over the counter) products, and there are clear indications that this demand will remain strong this year."
"This will be driven by Chinese buying at the retail level in particular," it added.
Holdings of the largest silver ETF, the iShares Silver Trust <SLV>, also fell more than 53 tonnes on Friday. Spot silver <XAG=> was at $28.75 an ounce against $28.69. [
]Platinum <XPT=> was at $1,733.24 an ounce against $1,731, while palladium <XPD=> was at $748.22 against $748.50. (Reporting by Jan Harvey; Editing by Jane Baird)