* Bets on Dec rate hike weigh on gold
* Dollar index drifts back from 7-month high
* Platinum Group Metals at multi-week lows
(Updates trading, adds comment, second byline, NEW YORK
dateline)
By Marcy Nicholson and Clara Denina
NEW YORK/LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The price of gold edged
modestly up on Monday, snapping an eight-day losing streak as
the dollar retreated, but still hovered near its lowest in three
months after robust U.S. jobs data boosted expectations of a
U.S. rate hike in December.
Spot gold XAU= was up 0.2 percent at $1,090.20 an ounce at
2:32 p.m. EST (1932 GMT), while U.S. gold futures GCZ5 for
December delivery settled up 40 cents at $1,188.10 an ounce.
"Until the Fed rate hike, there is going to be continued
concern about where is the floor for gold, whether at current
levels or significantly lower," ING Bank senior strategist Hamza
Khan said.
U.S. data on Friday showed employers outside the farming
sector added 271,000 jobs in October, well above expectations
and the most in 10 months, while the jobless rate fell to a
7-1/2-year low of 5 percent. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nLNN6MEBHQ
As a result, investors raised their bets that the first U.S.
rate increase in nearly a decade will come next month, sending
non-interest-paying gold to $1,084.90 an ounce on Friday, the
lowest since August.
"This back-and-forth on expectation of what the Fed will do
is going to keep the market busy in the short term at least,"
Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke said.
"We really have to concentrate on whether growth is sound in
the U.S. (but) we are not going to have an inflation problem, so
from that perspective, there is no investment case to be done
for gold."
Following the jobs report, futures markets were pricing in a
70 percent probability of a December rate hike, up from 58
percent before the data. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1311M1
Assets in SPDR Gold Trust, the top gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, fell 0.4 percent to 669.09 tonnes on
Friday, the lowest in nearly three months, as investors exited
bullion.
The industrial precious metals were pressured by a fresh
batch of disappointing Chinese trade data, which could signal
slower demand, as well as outflows from PGM-backed
exchange-traded funds. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N12Z2MT
"For the most part, it's just a much weaker PGM complex in
general, reacting to the Fed last week and the strong jobs
number on Friday," said one U.S. trader.
"Coupled with some of the ETF liquidation, we're just
skipping along the bottom."
Palladium XPD= fell 4.3 percent to $592.50 an ounce, its
lowest in seven weeks, after last week's biggest weekly fall
since September 2011.
Silver XAG= dropped 2.3 percent to $14.39 an ounce and
platinum XPT= fell 3.2 percent to $904.75 an ounce, both
five-week lows.