SINGAPORE, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Gold steadied after a five-day
slide on Wednesday, but continued to languish near its lowest in
four weeks, hurt by fears of a U.S. rate hike this year and
investor outflows.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= had ticked up 0.4 percent to $1,121.30 an
ounce by 0036 GMT, after sliding over 4 percent in the last five
sessions.
* The metal slumped to $1,114.10 on Tuesday, the lowest
since Oct. 2. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 also slid to a one-month
low of $1,113.60 in the previous session.
* Bullion has been under pressure since the Federal Reserve
last week hinted at a rate hike in December, reversing earlier
market expectations that the first U.S. rate increase in nearly
a decade could be delayed to next year on global growth
concerns.
* Gold tends to benefit from very low rates as a
non-interest-paying asset.
* Strength in the dollar and equities were also dragging on
gold. Asian shares rose on Wednesday, taking early cues from
overnight Wall Street gains, while sharper risk appetite from
investors lifted U.S. debt yields and supported the dollar.
MKTS/GLOB
* Soft economic data on Tuesday failed to lift gold. New
orders for U.S. factory goods fell for a second straight month
in September as the manufacturing sector continues to struggle
under the weight of a strong dollar and deep spending cuts by
energy companies. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N12Y1IL
* Bullion traders are waiting for more U.S. data to gauge
the strength of the economy and its impact on the Fed's monetary
policy.
* All eyes will be on the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due
on Friday, while the ADP employment report and ISM report on
services sector sentiment due later on Wednesday could also be
market movers.
* Investor outflows from gold continued and were likely to
trigger more price declines.
* SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.43 percent to
686.30 tonnes on Tuesday - the lowest in five weeks.
* For the top stories on metals and other news, click
TOP/MTL or GOL
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0145 China Caixin services PMI Oct
0850 France Markit services PMI Oct
0855 Germany Markit services PMI Oct
0900 Euro zone Markit services PMI Oct
1000 Euro zone Producer prices Oct
1315 U.S. ADP national employment Oct
1330 U.S. International trade Sep
1500 U.S. ISM non-manufacturing PMI Oct
PRICES AT 0036 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg
Spot gold 1121.3 4.09 0.37
Spot silver 15.255 -0.015 -0.1
Spot platinum 964.1 4.86 0.51
Spot palladium 643.67 2.2 0.34
Comex gold 1121 6.9 0.62
Comex silver 15.28 0.041 0.27
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the
most active months