* Gold falls over 1 pct on firm dollar, selling in Japan
* Oil rises more than $1 on technical rebound
* Eyes on jobs data out on Friday
(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Gold fell more than 1 percent
on Wednesday, defying a rebound in oil prices, after the U.S.
dollar bounced against the euro and speculators in Japan
shifted some of their money back to stocks.
Investors await a series of economic data due out this
week, including U.S. non-farm payrolls numbers on Friday, and
interest rate decisions from central banks, which could give
direction to the dollar and precious metals.
Gold <XAU=> was trading at $778.30 an ounce, down $3.20
from New York's notional close. It fell as low as $768.00 on
Wednesday, not far from a near two-week low of $761.30 hit the
previous day.
Bullion has rebounded around 14 percent since falling to a
13-month low of $680.80 in October, but the upside was capped
by recent weakness in oil, a firm dollar and worries about an
increasingly bleak global economic outlook that could curb
investors' appetite for risky assets.
"The U.S. job data will be released and many people expect
it to be very bad. The bear trend will continue for spot gold,"
said Kazuhito Saito of Interes Capital Management in Tokyo,
adding that some Japanese investors sold gold to buy stocks.
"It may fall below $750," said Saito, referring to the
current support level and the 30-day moving average.
U.S. payrolls probably shed 316,000 jobs in November,
following October's drop of 240,000 jobs, according to
economists polled by Reuters. The unemployment rate is seen
rising to 6.8 percent in November from October's 6.5 percent.
The Nikkei <> rose more than 1 percent after tumbling
to a near two-week low the day before. [] Oil <CLc1> rose
more than $1 a barrel on a technical rebound. []
The euro slipped to $1.2688 <EUR=> in thin trade ahead of
interest rate decisions from the European Central Bank, the
Bank of England and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand on
Thursday. [][]
A Reuters survey showed prices of platinum, palladium and
silver, which have significant industrial uses, are expected to
slump next year as demand sags in line with economic growth.
But gold should fare better than the industrial precious
metals as investors buy bullion as a haven from risk,
especially if the dollar recovery loses traction. A poll of a
dozen analysts showed 2009 gold forecasts down just 9 percent.
[]
Platinum <XPT=> was trading at $812.50 an ounce, up $16.50
from New York notional close, after an earlier drop to a
session low of $783 attracted bargain hunting.
The metal has fallen lost more than 60 percent since
hitting record of $2,290 in March to track weaker gold and
recently, dismal auto sales and recession fears.
"The problems with General Motors are a big headache for
people in the platinum market," said Yukuji Sonoda, precious
metals analyst at Daiichi Commodities in Tokyo.
"It's a very bearish market," said Sonoda, adding that weak
oil also weighed on platinum.
A top lawmaker predicted Washington would approve a bailout
for U.S. automakers after they submitted survival plans, and
General Motors Corp <GM.N> and Chrysler LLC said they needed an
immediate infusion of cash to avoid failures. []
That said, U.S. auto sales fell for the 13th consecutive
month in November, led by a 47 percent sales drop at Chrysler
and a 41 percent decline at General Motors, and major
automakers said there was no sign that demand would rebound in
the next six months in the world's largest vehicle market.
[]
More than 60 percent of global platinum use goes to
autocatalysts to clean exhaust fumes.
New York gold futures <GCZ9> fell $4.6 an ounce to $778.7
in electronic trade.
Precious metals prices at 0641 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 778.30 -3.20 -0.41 -6.53
Spot Silver 9.46 -0.08 -0.84 -35.95
Spot Platinum 812.50 16.50 +2.07 -46.55
Spot Palladium 170.50 1.50 +0.89 -53.67
TOCOM Gold 2327.00 47.00 +2.06 -23.95
38076
TOCOM Platinum 2449.00 75.00 +3.16 -54.13
15961
TOCOM Silver 281.70 9.30 +3.41 -47.93
461
TOCOM Palladium 529.00 0.00 +0.00 -60.84
899
Euro/Dollar 1.2689
Dollar/Yen 93.21
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Ben Tan)
