Gold falls for 2nd session, U.S. growth optimism weighs

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold edged lower for a second straight session on Monday after strong U.S. jobs data eased fears of an economic slowdown and dimmed the metal's safe-haven appeal.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold eased 0.3 percent to $1,336.36 an ounce by 0025 GMT, after dropping nearly 1 percent on Friday.

* Palladium was trading near its highest in a year boosted by fears of supply constraints from geopolitical tensions in top producer Russia and mine strikes in second-biggest producer South Africa.

* Data on Friday showed that U.S. job growth accelerated sharply in February despite the icy weather that gripped much of the nation, keeping the Federal Reserve on track to continue reducing its monetary stimulus.

* China's exports unexpectedly tumbled in February, swinging the trade balance into deficit and adding to fears of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy despite the Lunar New Year holidays being blamed for the slide.

* SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 1.50 tonnes to 805.20 tonnes on Friday.

* Hedge funds and money managers raised their bullish bets in gold futures and options for a fourth consecutive week as geopolitical tensions boosted speculative interest to its highest in more than a year, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday.

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Ed Davies)