* Gold softens ahead of expected strong U.S. payrolls data
* For the technical outlook for gold, see: []
* Coming Up: U.S. employment report for May; 1230 GMT
(Updates prices, adds graphics)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, June 4 (Reuters) - Gold slipped on Friday after
early bargain hunting subsided as investors eyed the release of
U.S. jobs data for clues on the direction of the dollar and the
health of the U.S. economy.
While the U.S. currency has already firmed on bullish bets
for non-farm payrolls data, an increase in ETF holdings to
another record suggested the debt crisis in Europe has kept
gold's appeal as a safe haven intact.
Economists are looking for 513,000 non-farm jobs being
added to the economy, which would be the fifth month of rising
payrolls and the strongest gain since 1983. [].
Gold <XAU=> was at $1,202.60 an ounce by 0541 GMT, down
$3.45 from New York's notional close on Thursday, when it
dropped more than 1 percent. Bullion is 3.7 percent short of a
record of $1,248.95 hit in mid-May, when fears that euro zone
credit problems were spreading spurred safe-haven buying.
"I think that it will be premature to say that the
safe-haven demand for gold is going to diminish. European
countries are still adjusting to some of their fiscal
difficulties," said David Moore, commodity strategist at
Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
"A lot of those issues remain not fully resolved at this
stage," he added.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD.P>, said its holdings rose to a record of
1,289.839 tonnes as of June 3 from 1,268.539 tonnes in the
previous business day. []
For a graphic on SPDR holdings, click on:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/10/GLD_SPDRVL0510.gif
U.S. gold futures for August delivery <GCQ0> fell $5.8 an
ounce to $1,204.2.
The dollar index <.DXY> was at 87.155, not far from
15-month highs, while the euro <EUR=> held near a four-year
low, with debt problems and worries about the region's
financial sector still weighing down on investor sentiment.
[]
"Aside from the U.S. dollar outlook, safe haven demand is
expected to remain an essential component of support to gold
along with liquidity and inflationary concerns," BNP Paribas
said in a report.
"Uncertainty in European bond markets in May caused by
sovereign risk cast doubts over the euro's reserve currency
status, making gold an attractive alternative."
Silver <XAG=>, palladium <XPD=> and platinum <XPT=> tracked
gold lower.
For a graphic showing the technical outlook for silver,
see:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/WT_20100306161601.jpg
Nikkei average was little changed on Friday after the
country's ruling party picked former finance minister Naoto Kan
as Japan's new prime minister. U.S. stocks gained the previous
day following a late-day surge in technology shares ahead of
the jobs data. [] []
Oil slipped on Friday from its highest closing price in
three weeks as investors remained sceptical that rising U.S.
demand and falling stockpiles would prevail over concern
Europe's debt crisis may deepen. []
Precious metals prices at 0541 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1202.60 -3.45 -0.29 9.76
Spot Silver 17.87 -0.07 -0.39 6.18
Spot Platinum 1537.15 -5.35 -0.35 4.78
Spot Palladium 445.15 -3.35 -0.75 9.78
TOCOM Gold 3592.00 -48.00 -1.32 10.22
42734
TOCOM Platinum 4607.00 -51.00 -1.09 5.16
10800
TOCOM Silver 53.80 -1.20 -2.18 4.06
713
TOCOM Palladium 1338.00 -32.00 -2.34 14.85
267
Euro/Dollar 1.2171
Dollar/Yen 92.65
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Ed Lane)
