Dec 5 (Reuters) - Gold prices held steady on Friday, as
rising U.S. Treasury yields offset support from a weaker dollar,
while markets awaited U.S. inflation data later in the day for
clues into the Federal Reserve's policy outlook ahead of its
meeting next week.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold fell 0.1% to $4,203.89 per ounce as of
0047 GMT.
* U.S. gold futures for December delivery lost 0.2%
to $4,233.60 per ounce.
* Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields dipped
but held at a more than two-week high, while the U.S. dollar
rose but held near one-month lows.
* On Thursday, data showed new U.S. unemployment benefit
claims dropped to 191,000 last week, the lowest in more than
three years and well below economists' estimate of 220,000.
* Meanwhile, the ADP report on Wednesday indicated U.S.
private payrolls declined by 32,000 in November, marking the
steepest drop in more than two and a half years.
* A majority of more than 100 economists polled by Reuters
forecast the Fed will reduce its key interest rate by 25 basis
points at its December 9-10 meeting, as the central bank seeks
to support a cooling labor market.
* Investors are waiting on the delayed September Personal
Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index, the Fed's preferred
inflation gauge, due later in the day, for more insight into the
central bank's monetary policy path.
* Lower interest rates tend to favour non-yielding assets
such as gold.
* Elsewhere, silver fell 0.2% to $57.02 per ounce,
platinum lost 0.6% to $1,636.0, while palladium
slid 0.2% to $1,445.87.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0700 Germany Industrial Orders MM Oct
0700 Germany Manufacturing O/P Cur Price SA Oct
0700 Germany Consumer Goods SA Oct
0700 UK Halifax House Prices MM, YY Nov
1000 EU GDP Revised QQ, YY Q3
1500 US Consumption, Adjusted MM Sep
1500 US Core PCE Price Index MM, YY Sep
1500 US PCE Price Index MM, YY Sep
1500 US U Mich Sentiment Prelim Dec
(Reporting by Ishaan Arora in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana
Nandy)
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