* Net longs in gold, silver rise to record highs in week to
July 5
* Holdings in SPDR Gold up 0.30 pct to 981.26 tonnes
(Recasts, updates prices)
By Sethuraman N R
BENGALURU, July 11 (Reuters) - Gold edged lower on Monday as
the dollar steadied and equity markets rallied following upbeat
U.S. jobs data last week that came as more evidence the economy
had regained speed after a first-quarter lull.
Asian share markets enjoyed a relief rally as the upbeat
U.S. jobs data on Friday lessened immediate concerns about the
health of the world's largest economy, while the long-run
fallout from Brexit kept sovereign yields near record
lows. MKTS/GLOB
The dollar index .DXY inched up 0.4 percent to 96.670,
hovering near an 11-day high of 96.697 hit on Friday.
Spot gold XAU= was trading down 0.3 percent at $1,362.35
an ounce at 0653 GMT.
The yellow metal, which hit a low of $1,335.68 an ounce
ahead of better-than-expected U.S. jobs data, rose in early
trade to just shy of a more than 2-year high of $1,374.91 hit on
July 6.
U.S. gold GCcv1 was up 0.4 percent at $1,363.90 an ounce,
after earlier hitting a high of $1,376.50.
U.S. job growth surged in June as manufacturing employment
increased, but tepid wage growth could see the Fed remain
cautious about hiking interest rates.
"The market is really comfortable with the view that the
U.S. Federal Reserve is not going to raise rates in the
immediate term despite the positive data, on the back of
continued concern in the global markets around the Brexit vote,"
ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said.
"The volatility shows that investor demand is still very
strong."
U.S. employers have been adding enough jobs over the last
six months to put the economy on track, but that prospect alone
is unlikely to get the Fed to step on the brakes with
interest-rate hikes.
Lower rates tend to boost gold prices because they cut the
opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion while weighing
on the dollar, in which it is priced.
"July will likely be an unusual month whereby both gold and
equity markets could jointly push higher, as the global easing
campaign is expected to persist far longer than was believed
only a few weeks ago," said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir.
Speculators continued to flock to gold and silver. In gold,
they increased their net long position on COMEX for a fifth
straight week in the week to July 5, to the highest since
records became publicly available in 2006.
Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust GLD (NYSE:GLD), the world's largest
gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.30 percent to 981.26
tonnes on Friday. GOL/ETF
Spot gold may fall towards its July 8 low of $1,335.68 per
ounce, as it failed to break a resistance at $1,375, according
to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
Silver XAG= was up 0.34 percent at $20.33 an ounce,
platinum XPT= fell 0.2 percent to $1,094.75 and palladium
XPD= was nearly unchanged at $614.90.