PRECIOUS-Gold falls for 5th day ahead of US jobs data

                                
 * Gold consolidates; physical buying supports
                                
 * Spot gold may fall to $1,355-technicals [ID:nL3E7C701A]
                                
 * Coming up: U.S. non-farm payrolls, Dec; 1330 GMT

 (Updates prices)	
                                
 By Rujun Shen	
                                
 SINGAPORE, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Spot gold fell for a fifth 
straight day on Friday, pressured by dollar strength, as 
investors wait for a key U.S. employment report later in the 
day for clues on the health of the world's largest economy.	
                                
 Some economists raised their forecast for non-farm 
payrolls, after Wednesday's ADP report showed a surprise jump 
in private jobs created for December.	
                                
 A Reuters poll showed that payrolls likely increased by 
175,000 in December, revised up from 140,000. [ID:nN05284674]	
                                
 "Gold is probably consolidating ahead of the nonfarm 
payrolls data," said Darren Heathcote, head of trading at 
Investec Australia.	
                                
 "If we see a weaker number, it would be negative for the 
dollar and positive for gold. Unless the number is much 
stronger than expected, we probably won't see much move in 
gold prices."	
                                
 But some analysts said the nonfarm payrolls number is not 
always correlated with the ADP figures, and the dollar could 
face some downside risk if the data turned out not as strong.	
                                
 The dollar index edged higher on Friday, building 
on gains in the previous session, while the euro weakened to 
its lowest in four months against the dollar. 
                                
 Spot gold edged down 0.4 percent at $1,365.80 an 
ounce by 0815 GMT, headed for a fifth straight day of loss, 
the longest losing streak unseen since May 2010.	
                                
 Spot gold was on course for a weekly loss of 3.7 percent, 
its largest weekly loss since late May.	
                                
 U.S. gold futures also declined 0.4 percent to 
$1,366.3.	
                                
 A bearish target at $1,355 per ounce is unchanged for spot 
gold as a downward wave "5" has not completed, said Wang Tao, 
a Reuters market analyst. [ID:nL3E7C701A]	
                                
 For a 24-hour gold technical outlook:  	
                                
 http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20110701085955.jpg	
                                
 Physical buying in Asia continued to give support, as 
jewellers, bullion traders and investors were lured by the 
current price level, some $60 below its record high of 
$1,430.95 hit a month ago.	
                                
 "There is strong buying in Asia on physical market. People 
are still looking at a good trend this year," said Ronald 
Leung, a dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.	
                                
 But buyers were a bit cautious ahead of the nonfarm 
payrolls release, which is expected to give a clear direction 
to the market.	
                                
 "Clients are waiting for prices to go even lower, then 
they'll buy on the dip," said a second Hong Kong-based dealer. 	
                                
 Spot silver fell 1.1 percent to $28.71, on course 
for a seven percent weekly decline, its biggest since late May.	
                                
 Holdings in the world's largest silver-backed 
exchange-traded fund, iShares Silver Trust , had been on 
a steady decline since it hit a record high at 10,964.14 
tonnes on Dec 14. It slipped to 10,892.87 tonnes by Jan 6. 	
                                
 Spot palladium lost 1.4 percent to $748, headed for 
a six percent weekly fall, after prices nearly doubled in 
2010. It fell to 2-1/2 week low of $736.40.	
	
 Precious metals prices 0815 GMT                                     
  Metal             Last    Change  Pct chg  YTD pct chg  Turnover   
  Spot Gold        1365.80   -5.35   -0.39     -3.78                 
  Spot Silver        28.71   -0.33   -1.14     -6.97                 
  Spot Platinum    1722.50   -6.50   -0.38     -2.55                 
  Spot Palladium    748.00  -10.50   -1.38     -6.44                 
  TOCOM Gold       3681.00   -1.00   -0.03     -1.29          689    
  TOCOM Platinum   4682.00   -3.00   -0.06     -0.30          130    
  TOCOM Silver       77.40    0.10   +0.13     -4.44           31    
  TOCOM Palladium  2031.00   -5.00   -0.25     -3.15          106    
  Euro/Dollar       1.2991                                           
  Dollar/Yen         83.50                                           
  TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.          
	
 (Editing by Himani Sarkar)	
 
  
                                
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