PRECIOUS-Gold stays near 10-mth low, U.S. payroll data in focus
SINGAPORE, April 5 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Friday but held near its weakest since May last year as investors waited for key U.S. jobs data for more clues on the health of the world's largest economy, while a drop in ETF holdings dragged on prices.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Gold was little changed at $1,553.56 an ounce by 0033 GMT, still heading for a second week of decline. It fell to 1,539.74 on Thursday, its lowest in 10 months, as unprecedented monetary stimulus from the Bank of Japan and hopes for another European Central Bank rate cut failed to stem heavy selling.
* Investors will scrutinise Friday's U.S. employment data for more signals on the strength of that economy. A strong report could hurt gold, making it easier for the U.S. Federal Reserve to end stimulus measures that have made some investors worry about inflation in the world's biggest economy.
* Bullion holdings at the world's major gold exchange traded funds fell to their lowest since August 2012
* After two years of losses, hedge fund manager John Paulson's best-known funds got off to a better start in 2013. His gold fund, however, notched double digit losses during the first three months of 2013.
* Gold is gearing up for the start of a bear market cycle in 2014 after more than a decade of gains as consumer demand for jewellery, coins and bars declines and central bank buying plateaus, metals consultancy GFMS said.
* U.S. gold for June delivery was at $1,553.70 an ounce, up $1.30.
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MARKET NEWS
* Japanese equities soared and the yen continued its tumble against the dollar and the euro on Friday in the wake of Thursday's policy decisions by the BOJ, but Asian shares eased ahead of the U.S. jobs data.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0900 Euro zone Retail sales 1000 Germany Industrial orders 1230 U.S. Nonfarm payrolls 1230 U.S. Unemployment rate 1230 U.S. International trade
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0033 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1553.56 0.85 +0.05 -7.22 Spot Silver 26.91 0.02 +0.07 -11.13 Spot Platinum 1531.99 11.99 +0.79 -0.20 Spot Palladium 725.37 1.37 +0.19 4.82 COMEX GOLD JUN3 1553.70 1.30 +0.08 -7.29 2974 COMEX SILVER MAY3 26.88 0.11 +0.42 -11.08 526 Euro/Dollar 1.2931 Dollar/Yen 96.95
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Joseph Radford)