Asia gold holds ground as investors eye central banks, jobs data

Gold was steady on Thursday, holding minor gains from the previous two sessions as investors awaited cues from central banks on their plans to shore up the frail global economy, while a key U.S. employment report on Friday was also in focus.

Fundamentals

* Spot gold was little changed at $1,778.14 an ounce by 0028 GMT.

* U.S. gold traded nearly flat at $1,780.80.

* The euro zone's economic woes accelerated last month and China's slowdown looked likely to extend to a seventh quarter, surveys on Wednesday showed, while the United States proved the bright spot with better-than-expected news on services and jobs.

* Later in the day, the European Central Bank will hold a policy meeting and announce its rate decision. For the first time in months, the ECB's main focus will be interest rates and whether they can be reduced to support a recession-bound euro zone economy.

* The Bank of England, also due to make its rate decision on Thursday, will shy away from increasing its economic stimulus programme of government bond purchases, but another cash injection later in the year remains a safe bet in the eyes of many economists.

* Investors will closely watch the U.S. nonfarm payrolls data Friday, which is expected to show that job growth may have improved slightly. Wednesday's ADP National Employment Report showed private employers added 162,000 jobs, down from 189,000 in August.

* The world economy will take at least 10 years to emerge from the financial crisis that began in 2008, the International Monetary Fund's Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard said in an interview published on Wednesday.

* Holdings of gold-backed exchange-traded funds had inched up to 74.152 million ounces by October2, just off a record high of 74.288 million ounces hit in late September.

* Labour strife in South Africa's mining sector has spread to Harmony Gold , while the Chamber of Mines has agreed to re-open wage talks in the coal and gold sectors.

Market news

* Wall Street ended modestly higher on Wednesday on stronger-than-expected U.S. labour and service-sector data, but the Dow industrials were hobbled by a slide in Hewlett-Packard.

* The yen struggled at two-week lows against the euro and dollar on Thursday, with wary investors taking a pre-emptive move in case the Bank of Japan surprises this week by easing policy.

* U.S. crude futures nursed heavy losses from the previous session when prices fell 4 percent on disappointing data from China and Europe.