* Gold to consolidate in $1,360-$1,380/oz
* Gold may drop to $1,355-technicals []
* Coming up: euro zon business climate; 1000 GMT
(Updates with revised U.S. nonfarm payrolls estimate, prices)
By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Spot gold held steady on
Thursday, supported by bargain hunting on the physical market,
but optimism spurred by strong U.S. private employment data
and hopes of a positive showing from Friday's nonfarm payrolls
number weighed on sentiment.
The number of U.S. private-sector jobs surged in December
at a rate three times stronger than forecast, payrolls
processing company ADP Employer Services said on Wednesday.
Private employers added 297,000 jobs last month, the
largest gain on ADP records dating to 2000. The ADP report,
ahead of government employment data due on Friday, added to
growing evidence that recovery in the world's largest economy
is shifting up a gear. []
"Recent U.S. data has been very positive, weighing on gold
prices," said Hou Xinqiang, an analyst at Jinrui Futures in
China.
"In addition, there hasn't been any new momentum pushing
gold above the record level. If we don't see any drastically
bad news on the macroeconomic front, gold's performance might
be lackluster in the short term."
Spot gold lost 0.1 percent to $1,375.8 an ounce by
0638 GMT, after falling to a three-week low of $1,363.8 in the
previous session.
U.S. gold futures gained 0.2 percent to $1,376.6.
Spot gold is expected to zigzag down towards $1,355
per ounce, a Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said, adding
volatility could be low on Thursday and Friday, with a price
band between $1,355 and $1,375, as indicated by a small
descending channel. []
For a 24-hour gold technical outlook:
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/WT/20110601091236.jpg
But the downside was limited by bargain hunting on the
physical market, dealers said.
"We see very good physical demand help pushing gold from
below $1,370 to the current level," said a Hong Kong-based
dealer.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls are now expected to have increased
175,000 in December, according to a revised Reuters poll, up
from the previous pre-ADP 140,000 forecast. []
The dollar was steady on Thursday, maintaining overnight
gains, and could strengthen more after strong private
employment data lifted expectations for Friday's U.S. payrolls
number.
"If the payrolls data meets or exceeds expectations, it
will have some pressure on gold in the short term. But this
year gold is still on uptrend," said the dealer, adding that
gold is likely to consolidate in the range of $1,360 to $1,380.
Looming large for the market is the index rebalancing
period, due to start later this week, when index funds
invested in commodities add risk to under-exposed markets and
pare back from overly-weighted commodities.
For a factbox on commodity index rebalancing in 2011,
click []
Silver, which rose by more than 80 percent in 2010, might
go under pressure from the rebalancing act, for the short term.
Spot silver gained 0.3 percent to $29.34 an ounce,
recovering from a three-week low of $28.57 in the previous
session.
Spot palladium lost 0.3 percent to $770.47, up from
a 1-1/2 week low of $746.08 hit on Wednesday.
Precious metals prices 0638 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover
Spot Gold 1375.80 -1.85 -0.13 -3.08
Spot Silver 29.34 0.10 +0.34 -4.93
Spot Platinum 1729.74 3.24 +0.19 -2.14
Spot Palladium 770.47 -2.53 -0.33 -3.63
TOCOM Gold 3691.00 26.00 +0.71 -1.02 52607
TOCOM Platinum 4694.00 48.00 +1.03 -0.04 19363
TOCOM Silver 78.80 0.30 +0.38 -2.72 1605
TOCOM Palladium 2078.00 20.00 +0.97 -0.91 893
Euro/Dollar 1.3141
Dollar/Yen 83.17
TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Himani Sarkar)
Reuters Terminal users can
see related news and prices by
double clicking on the
codes in brackets:
- All precious metals headlines
- Precious metals market reports
- Daily fixing
headlines
- Technical analysis
-
Indian gold reports
- European gold prices
<0#PREC>
- London interbank gold
forward rates <0#GOFO=>
- London silver forwards
- Gold lease rates <0#LGLR=>
-
London Bullion Market Association
- New York
Comex gold <0#GC:> and silver <0#SI:>
- New York
platinum <0#PL:> and palladium <0#PA:>
- Asian
gold prices <0#PREC>
- Australian
precious metals prices <0#AUPREC=>
- Shanghai Gold Exchange prices
-
Hong Kong gold exchange prices
- Hong
Kong bullion prices
- Indian bullion
prices <0#PREC-IN>
- Japanese producer prices
For Related News and other topics,
double click on one of
these
codes: SPEED GUIDES
))
