SINGAPORE, March 31 (Reuters) - Gold edged down on Thursday as investors booked profits from a rally in the previous session, and trading was likely to be muted ahead of the release of Friday's U.S. jobs report.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold fell $2.08 an ounce to $1,421.30 an ounce by 0027 GMT, having risen as high as $1,430 on Wednesday as resurgence of risk appetite spurred buying of bullion along with other assets. Gold was below a lifetime high around $1,447 struck last week.
* U.S. gold futures for April dropped $2.4 an ounce to $1,421.4 an ounce.
* Gold's decade-long price rally which took the metal to record highs last week looks set to plateau in the second quarter as more downside risks for bullion emerge, a Reuters survey showed on Wednesday. [ID:nLDE72T1AT]
* U.S. private employers added more than 200,000 jobs in March while planned layoffs fell, underscoring expectations that momentum in the labor market will help underpin the economic recovery. [ID:nN30275708]
MARKET NEWS
* Japan's Nikkei average extended gains on Thursday after strong U.S. data backed the view of an improving global economic outlook, which had helped drive global markets higher the day before, and as the yen weakened further against the dollar.
* The yen slipped across the board on Thursday, hitting fresh 10-month lows versus the euro and holding near a three-week trough against the dollar as expectations grew that Japan will lag euro zone and U.S. central banks in raising interest rates.
DATA EVENTS (GMT) 0500 Japan Construction orders yy Feb 2011 0600 Germany Retail sales yy real Feb 2011 0800 Germany Unemployment rate sa Mar 2011
0900 EZ Inflation, flash yy Mar 2011 1230 U.S. Unemployment claims Weekly 1400 U.S. Factory Orders Feb 2011 2350 Japan Tankan big mf idx Jan 2011 2350 Japan Tankan all big capex est Jan 2011
Precious metals prices 0027 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover Spot Gold 1421.30 -2.08 -0.15 0.13 Spot Silver 37.39 -0.05 -0.13 21.16 Spot Platinum 1760.24 -5.61 -0.32 -0.41 Spot Palladium 750.50 -1.28 -0.17 -6.13 TOCOM Gold 3803.00 11.00 +0.29 1.98 25426 TOCOM Platinum 4732.00 52.00 +1.11 0.77 6042 TOCOM Silver 100.00 0.70 +0.70 23.46 1115 TOCOM Palladium 2015.00 -6.00 -0.30 -3.91 150 Euro/Dollar 1.4132 Dollar/Yen 83.03 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Ed Lane)
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