* Silver off Friday peak
* Dollar on the defensive after U.S. payrolls
* Coming Up: Euro zone Sentix index for September; 0830
GMT
(Updates prices, graphic)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Gold held steady on Monday as
bargain hunting helped the metal defy pressure from firming
stock markets and shrug off growing optimism the U.S. economy
would not fall back into recession.
But bullion was likely to trade in a tight $10 range, with
U.S. investors away for the Labor Day holiday, while silver
<XAG=> was hardly changed after rallying to its strongest since
March 2008 on Friday as investors booked profits and ETF
holdings dropped.
Spot gold <XAU=> added 26 cents to $1,248.30 an ounce by
0534 GMT, having fallen as low as $1,235.70 on Friday on a U.S.
labor market report that was much less weak than feared. Gold
struck a lifetime high around $1,264 an ounce in late June.
"I am actually just expecting gold to trade between $1,240
and $1,250 region. It's just a bit of a range bound between
these two levels," said Ong Yi Ling, investment analyst at
Phillip Futures in Singapore.
"I would still expect gold to be supported as it was able
to rebound quite sharply from its session low of about $1,235
all the way to $1,245 level. The ISM non-manufacturing data was
actually not as good."
U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ0> was barely
moved at $1,250.3 an ounce.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD.P>, said its holdings slipped to 1,294.442
tonnes by Sept 3 from 1,294.908 tonnes on Sept 2. The holdings
surged to a record 1,320.436 tonnes on June 29. []
Asian stocks touched one-month highs on Monday after the
latest U.S. jobs data soothed investors worried about a second
recession in the world's biggest economy. []
U.S. non-farm payrolls fell 54,000, the Labor Department
said, a much smaller drop than the predicted 100,000. The U.S.
non-manufacturing sector grew in August for an eighth straight
month, but at a slower pace than July and at a rate that was
below expectations. [] []
"There's a bit of buying at lower prices. It looks like
everybody is still slightly bullish on gold because the U.S.
economy is only recovering very slowly," said a dealer in Hong
Kong.
"Silver lags gold, so it's worth buying. There's a selling
in silver today but it's not aggressive," said the dealer,
adding that the metal had attracted buying from the industrial
sector last week.
The ratio of gold to silver -- or how many ounces of silver
are needed to buy an ounce of gold -- held near its lowest
level since April at around 62.
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The world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, the
iShares Silver Trust <SLV>, said its holdings dropped to
9,276.73 tonnes by Sept. 3 from 9,280.40 tonnes on Sept. 1.
[]
In currencies, the dollar was on the defensive after firm
U.S. payrolls data last week eased market anxiety over chances
of a double-dip recession and boosted demand for the euro and
growth-leveraged currencies. []
Oil fell for a second straight session as the end of the
driving season in the United States and record petroleum
stockpiles there fuelled doubt that supplies would drain in the
face of tepid economic growth. []
Precious metals prices at 0533 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 1248.30 0.26 +0.02 13.93
Spot Silver 19.88 0.01 +0.05 18.12
Spot Platinum 1560.20 6.80 +0.44 6.35
Spot Palladium 527.25 0.57 +0.11 30.02
TOCOM Gold 3395.00 -2.00 -0.06 4.17
20230
TOCOM Platinum 4268.00 41.00 +0.97 -2.58
11377
TOCOM Silver 54.30 0.90 +1.69 5.03
763
TOCOM Palladium 1443.00 24.00 +1.69 23.86
239
Euro/Dollar 1.2896
Dollar/Yen 84.35
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Himani Sarkar)
