SINGAPORE, (Reuters) - Gold dropped on Friday before the release of U.S.
non-farm payrolls report which could underpin the dollar and weigh on bullion,
while ETF holdings posted their biggest quarterly decline ever.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold fell $4.33 an ounce to $1,432.15 an ounce by 0100 GMT,
having risen nearly 1 percent on Thursday on inflation worries sparked by
rallies in oil and grain prices. Gold was below a lifetime high around $1,447
struck last week.
* U.S. gold futures for April dropped $6.2 an ounce to $1,432.7 an
ounce.
* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, New York's SPDR Gold
Trust , posted in the first three months of 2011 its biggest quarterly drop
since inception, as the prospect of interest rate hikes and gains in other
commodities drove investors to sell. []
* U.S. nonfarm payrolls are expected to have increased a solid 190,000 after
rising 192,000 in February, according to a Reuters survey, with the unemployment
rate seen holding steady at a near two-year low of 8.9 percent. []
MARKET NEWS
* The dollar drifted off lows versus the euro and particularly against
commodity currencies early in Asia on Friday following more hawkish comments
from a senior Federal Reserve official.
* U.S. crude prices rose to a 2-1/2 year high on Friday, boosted by worries
a protracted conflict in OPEC member Libya could keep its oil exports shut.
* Japan's Nikkei average opened little changed on Friday as a weaker yen
provided support after posting solid gains over the last two sessions, but
investors were reluctant to take large positions ahead of U.S. jobs data
later in the day.
DATA EVENTS (GMT)
1230 GMT U.S. Non-farm payrolls
0500 Japan Construction orders yy Feb 2011
0600 Germany Retail sales yy real Feb 2011
0800 Germany Unemployment rate sa Mar 2011
0900 EZ Inflation, flash yy Mar 2011
1230 U.S. Unemployment claims Weekly
1400 U.S. Factory Orders Feb 2011
Precious metals prices 0100 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1432.15 -4.33 -0.30 0.89
Spot Silver 37.66 0.06 +0.16 22.03
Spot Platinum 1763.99 -2.31 -0.13 -0.20
Spot Palladium 764.22 5.87 +0.77 -4.41
TOCOM Gold 3850.00 48.00 +1.26 3.24 32673
TOCOM Platinum 4768.00 30.00 +0.63 1.53 4399
TOCOM Silver 101.10 1.00 +1.00 24.81 915
TOCOM Palladium 2072.00 52.00 +2.57 -1.19 194
Euro/Dollar 1.4164
Dollar/Yen 83.44
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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