* Dollar's reaction to U.S. jobs data eyed for direction
* SPDR Gold holdings fall 0.055 tonnes on Thurs []
By Risa Maeda
TOKYO, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Gold held steady around $1,090 an
ounce on Friday after its rally to a record high this week on
anticipation of renewed central bank demand came to a halt, with
investors looking to economic data for direction.
U.S. October non-farm payrolls data, due at 1330 GMT, is
expected to highlight the strength of the economic recovery, give
a clear direction to the dollar and set the tone for the gold
market.
Fewer job losses than expected could prompt investors to move
away from the dollar into recovery-sensitive assets, such as
stocks and commodities including gold, traders said.
Gold is also considered a hedge against a weakening dollar.
Analysts polled by Reuters predicted that U.S. employers
sliced 175,000 from their payrolls in October, fewer than the
263,000 jobs lost in September. The jobless rate likely edged up
to 9.9 percent from a 26-year high of 9.8 percent in September.
"A bullish number could drag down the dollar and, as a
result, prop up the gold market," said Tatsufumi Okoshi, senior
economist at Nomura Securities Co.
"We expect the dollar's downtrend to extend into the first
quarter of next year, likely sending the euro to $1.55 by then.
Given that scenario, gold has an upside potential to rise to and
above $1,100 in coming months before the dollar eventually makes
a turnround and casts a shadow over gold," he said.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $1,091.00 an ounce at 0627 GMT, up
0.1 percent from New York's notional close of $1,089.55. It hit a
record high of $1,097.25 on Wednesday.
At the current level it is poised to rise about 4.4 percent
on the week, the biggest weekly gain since early October.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ9> stood at
$1,091.90 an ounce, up 0.2 percent.
In the currency market the euro was steady at $1.4875 <EUR=>.
[]
On Tuesday, bullion rallied $25, largely driven by news of
India's purchase last month of 200 tonnes of bullion from the
International Monetary Fund, which soothed investor nerves about
possible oversupply in the gold market.
The IMF is selling another 200 tonnes of gold. []
Asian central banks appear to be in little hurry to follow
India's lead and make big purchases of gold given its high market
price and the availability of cheaper domestically produced gold.
[]
Technically, a correction in gold could extend to the
$1,060-$1,065 zone. But a further downturn to and below the
psychologically important $1,000 level is unlikely in the near
term, analysts said.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings fell 0.055 tonnes to
1,108.344 tonnes on Thursday, marking the first decline since
Oct. 30. []
Another focus is the outcome of a Nov. 6-7 meeting of G20
finance officials in St. Andrews, Scotland.
Six weeks after world leaders vowed to rebalance the global
economy, finance ministers and central bank governors are set
this weekend to struggle with the complex, politically sensitive
process of building a mechanism to achieve that goal.
[] []
Precious metals prices at 0625 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1091.00 1.45 +0.13 23.96
Spot Silver 17.43 0.06 +0.35 53.98
Spot Platinum 1352.00 -1.50 -0.11 45.06
Spot Palladium 330.00 1.50 +0.46 78.86
TOCOM Gold 3189.00 17.00 +0.54 23.94 62292
TOCOM Platinum 3954.00 5.00 +0.13 49.10 8446
TOCOM Silver 508.20 5.90 +1.17 59.16 385
TOCOM Palladium 966.00 11.00 +1.15 75.64 262
Euro/Dollar 1.4871
Dollar/Yen 90.52
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 Miho Yoshikawa; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
