* Markets eye ECB, BoE rates decisions, U.S. jobs data
* iShares Silver Trust rises another 1 pct to record
By Jan Harvey
LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Gold steadied above $900 an ounce
in Europe on Wednesday, recovering from earlier losses, as the
market awaited interest rates announcements from European
central banks on Thursday and key jobs data from the U.S.
Spot gold <XAU=> was quoted at $901.80/903.80 an ounce at
1012 GMT, against $900.40 an ounce late in New York on Tuesday.
"(Gold) has done a lot in the last couple of weeks," said
Simon Weeks, director of precious metals at the Bank of Nova
Scotia. "We have the Bank of England and the ECB (rate
decisions) this week, so the market is taking a breather."
The usual key external drivers of gold, the dollar and oil,
gave little direction to prices. The dollar firmed a touch as
optimism sparked by better than expected U.S. housing data on
Thursday evaporated. []
Oil prices were steady, supported by the prospect of further
OPEC supply cuts. []
European stocks ticked up in early trade, while Asian shares
rose for a second straight session after economic data from
China and the United States helped ease fears of a global
downturn. []
Traders are now looking ahead to key U.S. jobs data,
non-farm payrolls numbers on Friday, and interest rate decisions
from the ECB and the Bank of England on Thursday.
However, gold's failure to break above $930 an ounce last
week has dampened some enthusiasm, traders said.
"It feels like gold will be in a range of $880-930 for the
short term," Afshin Nabavi, head of trading at MKS Finance,
said.
"Tomorrow is a big day as far as the news is concerned, so
we will see what the central banks want to do with their
interest rates."
However, in the longer run risk aversion is likely to
provide significant support for the precious metal.
Demand for gold as a safe store of value has surged recently
as other assets have become increasingly volatile. Physical
bullion in the form of coins and bars and gold-backed exchange
traded funds have proved popular with investors.
The world's largest gold-backed ETF, the SPDR Gold Trust
<GLD> said its holdings held at a record 853.37 tonnes on
Tuesday, up more than 9 percent from Jan 2.
FORECAST HIKED
UBS <UBSN.VX> lifted its 2009 average gold price forecast to
$1,000 an ounce from a previous price view of $700, citing
expected strong safe-haven demand. It said it sees investment
demand for the precious metal doubling in 2009 compared with
2007.
It said gold had held its ground early in the year despite
its usual drivers -- the dollar, oil prices and inflation -- all
moving against it.
"Normally we would have expected this set of circumstances
to trigger steep declines in the gold price, but the metal has
remained firm in dollar terms and strong in some of the other
major currencies," it said.
Among other precious metals, silver <XAG=> was unchanged at
$12.40/12.48 an ounce from $12.40.
"With gold the epicentre for precious metals sentiment these
days, platinum group metals and silver couldn't avoid the slide
as most investors remained on the sidelines," Standard Bank
analyst Manqoba Madinane said.
However, investment demand for silver remained strong.
Holdings of the iShares Silver Trust <SLV.A>, the world's
largest silver-backed ETF, rose another 77 tonnes to a record on
Feb 3.
Platinum <XPT=> was at $964/968 an ounce from $959.50, while
palladium <XPD=> was at $190/194 an ounce against $191.50.
(Reporting by Jan Harvey; Editing by Sue Thomas)
