* Gold consolidates; physical buying supports
* Spot gold may fall to $1,355-technicals []
* Coming up: U.S. non-farm payrolls, Dec; 1330 GMT
(Updates prices)
By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Spot gold posed for a fifth
consecutive day of loss on Friday, pressured by the strength
in the dollar, as investors wait for a key U.S. employment
report due later in the day for clues on the health of the
economy.
Some economists raised their forecast for non-farm
payrolls, after Thursday's ADP report showed a surprise jump
in private jobs number for December.
A Reuters poll showed that payrolls likely increased by
175,000 in December, revised up from 140,000. []
"Gold is probably consolidating ahead of the non-farm
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 non-farm 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 nearly four months against the dollar.
Spot gold edged down 0.3 percent at $1,366.70 an
ounce by 0706 GMT, posing for a fifth straight day of loss,
the longest losing streak unseen since May 2010.
Spot gold was on course for a 3.7 percent loss from the
previous week, its largest weekly loss since late May.
U.S. gold futures also declined 0.3 percent at
$1,367.6.
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. []
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 are 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 Dealers in Hong Kong.
But buyers were a bit cautious ahead of the non-farm
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 1.3 percent to $28.66, on course
for a 6.8 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 0.7 percent to $753, headed for
a 5.7 percent weekly fall, after prices nearly doubled in 2010.
Precious metals prices 0706 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1366.70 -4.45 -0.32 -3.72
Spot Silver 28.66 -0.38 -1.31 -7.13
Spot Platinum 1719.20 -9.80 -0.57 -2.73
Spot Palladium 753.00 -5.50 -0.73 -5.82
TOCOM Gold 3680.00 -12.00 -0.33 -1.31 45440
TOCOM Platinum 4686.00 -9.00 -0.19 -0.21 11251
TOCOM Silver 77.20 -1.60 -2.03 -4.69 1418
TOCOM Palladium 2036.00 -42.00 -2.02 -2.91 410
Euro/Dollar 1.2980
Dollar/Yen 83.50
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Ed Lane)
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