Gold steadies near $1,325/oz before U.S. payrolls data

By Jan Harvey

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Friday ahead of U.S. payrolls data that is being closely watched for its implications for interest rate policy, though concerns over a China-U.S. trade standoff kept prices underpinned.

The metal rose in Asian trading hours after U.S. President Donald Trump reignited trade-war fears by proposing $100 billion in new tariffs on China, but bullion could not maintain those gains as caution set in before the payrolls report.

Spot gold was at $1,325.46 an ounce at 0934 GMT, down 0.1 percent and off an earlier high of $1,333.28. U.S. gold futures for June delivery were little changed at $1,329.

"The key to gold's direction remains the dollar, and we expect the dollar to recover a bit more," ABN Amro analyst Georgette Boele said.

The non-farm payrolls data and the U.S.-China trade dispute had the power to drive a move, she said, though for the time being gold and the dollar were rangebound.

The dollar held on track for a second week of gains as investors cut bets against the currency ahead of the monthly U.S. payrolls figures due at 1230 GMT.

The report is expected to show U.S. job growth slowed in March, a Reuters poll showed. Analysts are closely watching wage growth, with a faster-than-expected rise expected to boost bets on more U.S. rate hikes than currently forecast.

Gold prices were little changed for the week, having risen on Monday on concerns over the prospect of a China-U.S. trade war, before dropping to a one-week low on Thursday after both countries signalled a willingness to negotiate.

However, Trump late on Thursday said he had instructed U.S. trade officials to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs on China, fuelling an already heated dispute between the world's two biggest economies.

A holiday in China kept trading volumes thin.

Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.24 percent to 854.09 tonnes on Thursday.

Among other precious metals, silver was down 0.2 percent at $16.31 an ounce, while platinum was 0.2 percent higher at $911.50 an ounce.

Palladium was up 0.2 percent at $905.40 an ounce, after 10 successive sessions of losses. The autocatalyst metal is on track to end the week down more than 5 percent.

"Last year's uptrend has reversed and palladium prices are down more than 20 percent from their January high," Julius Baer said in a note. "We see them better aligned with a softer global car market and shift our view to neutral."

(Reporting by Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Dale Hudson)