* Gold stays below five-week high
* Lure fades on view U.S. may have lost fewer jobs
* SPDR Gold Trust <XAUEXT-NYS-TT> holdings unchanged
By Risa Maeda
TOKYO, May 8 (Reuters) - Gold edged above $910 per ounce on
Friday, but stayed below a five-week high of $925.15 hit the
previous day as its safe-haven allure waned on the view that
global economic woes could be easing.
Trade was slow as many dealers were taking a wait-and-see
attitude before key U.S. monthly jobs data at 1230 GMT. U.S.
employers are expected to have cut 590,000 jobs in April, after
slashing 663,000 in March, a Reuters survey estimated.
Job cuts, falling home values and big stock losses led to a
drop of $11.1 trillion, or about 18 percent, in U.S.
households' wealth in 2008, Federal Reserve data show, one of
the biggest drags on the global economy.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $913.70 per ounce by 0554 GMT, up
0.5 percent from New York's notional close of $909.05.
"It will be a $910 and $917 trading range for the day time,
as there's the U.S. jobs data coming out tonight. The market
wants to see if the data comes in better than expected or not,"
said Ronald Leung, a dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers.
Even if the job cut number comes in much smaller than the
consensus and hits demand for gold as a safe-haven asset, the
metal is seen well supported at or just below $900 as investors
maintained their interest in gold, he said.
"I think they will buy... They're waiting for the right
timing to buy," he said.
The results of the stress tests on U.S. banks late on
Thursday provided no real surprises, but assured investors the
sector was on track to restore credibility, a factor tempering
once-aggressive demand by investors, analysts said.
U.S. gold futures <GCM9> were little changed at $915.20 per
ounce after settling at $915.50 on Thursday on the COMEX
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said holdings stood at 1,104.09 tonnes
on Thursday, unchanged from the previous day. []
Other markets were also relatively calm and weren't giving
direction to gold and other precious metals.
The yen slipped against the dollar and the euro on Friday
after the U.S. bank stress test results removed a major
uncertainty in financial markets, while investors waited to see
if a U.S. payrolls report due later in the day would help to
further boost investors' appetite for risk. [] []
Asian shares inched higher, with Tokyo's Nikkei average
<> up 0.6 percent and MSCI's broad measure of Asian stocks
outside Japan rising 0.3 percent <.MIAPJ0000PUS>.
Precious metals prices at 0555 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 914.10 5.05 +0.56 3.86
Spot Silver 13.91 0.13 +0.94 22.88
Spot Platinum 1149.00 5.00 +0.44 23.28
Spot Palladium 236.50 -0.50 -0.21 28.18
TOCOM Gold 2931.00 20.00 +0.69 13.91
22707
TOCOM Platinum 3694.00 -26.00 -0.70 39.29
9142
TOCOM Silver 441.00 5.20 +1.19 38.11
359
TOCOM Palladium 765.00 35.00 +4.79 39.09
476
Euro/Dollar 1.3403
Dollar/Yen 99.24
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Chikako Mogi; Editing by Clarence
Fernandez)
