* Gold backs off highs, stocks gain after housing data
* Largest gold, silver ETFs post fresh inflows on Wednesday
* Coming up: U.S. August non-farm payrolls; 1230 GMT, Sept 3
(Updates prices)
By Amanda Cooper
LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Gold rose on Thursday as
overarching concern about growth-linked assets ahead of key U.S.
jobs data sharpened investor appetite for bullion, as evidenced
by a third straight increase in exchange-traded fund holdings.
Spot gold <XAU=> was bid at $1,251.80 an ounce at 1530 GMT,
against $1,243.50 late in New York on Wednesday. U.S. gold
futures for December delivery <GCZ0> rose $5.60 cents to
$1,253.60.
Prices have reached new two-month highs at $1,254.65 this
week after a raft of U.S. data suggested the world's largest
economy could be slowing enough to warrant further quantitative
easing from the Federal Reserve.
Even robust data, such as Thursday's surprise rise in
pending home sales for July or better-than-expected
manufacturing data have not whet risk appetite for investors to
pare back their gold holdings.
"Gold remains a macro play and when you're looking at the
U.S. that continued yesterday," said Bank of America-Merrill
Lynch analyst Michael Widmer.
"Overall (the data) is weaker than one would wish and that
does bring people back into the market and the scope for the Fed
to keep monetary policy low for a while also brings people back
to the market," he said.
The euro edged up on Thursday, supported by healthy results
at Spanish and French bond auctions and after the European
Central Bank left euro zone interest rates unchanged and
extended its liquidity safety net as concern about the
resilience of the banking sector resurfaced. []
ETFS SWELL
The world's largest gold-backed ETF, New York's SPDR Gold
Trust <GLD.P>, said its holdings rose to 1,304.028 tonnes on
Sept. 1 from 1,302.508 tonnes the day before, having climbed in
August after retreating in July. []
Investors tend to favour physically backed bullion products
as a haven from risk in times of economic or financial market
uncertainty, analysts said.
"Monthly ETF inflows turned positive in August; these need
to accelerate for gold to overcome potential scrap supply at
these prices and rise sustainably through $1,250," Swiss bank
UBS noted in a daily report.
The data coming out of the United States is the key driver
for the broader financial markets right now as investors weigh
up the chances the world's largest economy will slip back into
recession, which will erode global growth.
U.S. stocks extended gains after the pending home sales
figures and the focus for the markets now lies squarely on
Friday's employment report for August.
"U.S. non-farm payrolls will be in particular focus at the
end of the week," said VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.
Among other commodities, oil fell further below $74 as
investors turned their attention to the forthcoming U.S. data,
following gains of almost 3 percent a day earlier after positive
manufacturing data lifted spirits across markets. []
Silver <XAG=> rose by more than 1 percent to $19.55 an ounce
against $19.32. The ratio of gold to silver -- or how many
ounces of silver are needed to buy an ounce of gold -- fell to
its lowest in 3-1/2 months at 64.29.
Holdings of the largest silver-backed ETF, the iShares
Silver Trust <SLV>, rose 53.27 tonnes on Wednesday, their
largest one-day rise since May 13. []
Elsewhere, platinum rose to $1,546.00 an ounce from $1,528,
while palladium <XPD=> climbed to $521.00 an ounce from $516.
The metals were supported by strong Chinese car sales
numbers, which showed a 59 percent sales rise in August from a
year earlier. This helped offset data showing the weakest U.S.
August car sales in 27 years. [] []
Carmakers are the largest consumers of platinum group
metals, which are widely used in catalytic converters.
(Additional reporting by Jan Harvey; editing by Keiron
Henderson and Alison Birrane)
