* Platinum rises to 4-mth high; palladium 17-month peak
* Global stocks retreat, euro wilts against dollar
* Futures, options investors reduce gold positions (Adds comments, updates prices)
By Clara Denina
LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Platinum rose on Monday after mostly upbeat U.S. data signalled the economic recovery is gaining traction, with a soft earnings update from the world's biggest platinum miner and strong monthly U.S. car sales reports adding to support.
Spot platinum was up 0.8 percent at $1,694.24 an ounce at 1525 GMT, while spot palladium was down 0.6 percent at $749.97 an ounce, having earlier hit a high of $759.75. Spot gold was unchanged at $1,666.84 an ounce.
A dip in stock markets and the euro removed some support for gold, while data released on Friday showed hedge funds and money managers had slashed gold's net length in futures and options last week on signs of a steadily improving U.S. economy.
"Futures and options investors are on the retreat, pulling money from the gold market and putting it in more cyclical markets (like platinum and palladium) which benefit from the stabilisation of growth," Tobias Merath, global head of commodity research at Credit Suisse, said.
The latest Commitments of Traders data for the week to January 29 showed a 2.89 million ounces decrease in net long speculative positions in gold to 16.7 million ounces from the previous week.
Speculators boosted both platinum and palladium's net length, essentially bullish bets, to record highs.
Gold players were seen reassessing their positions after last week's mixed U.S. economic data failed to provide a clear direction for the market, analysts said.
U.S. payrolls numbers on Friday surprised to the downside, triggering a $10 jump in the metal, but these were offset by strong consumer confidence and ISM manufacturing numbers, and comments from a Federal Reserve official suggesting that monetary easing could be scaled back later this year.
Read More