MELBOURNE, May 9 (Reuters) - Spot gold edged lower on
Monday, as the dollar held firm after data showing improving
U.S. wage growth offset an overall weaker payroll report,
maintaining expectations of two rate rises this year.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= eased by 0.3 percent to $1,285.16 an
ounce by 0008 GMT, having closed little changed last week as it
consolidates within a $1,268-$1,303 trading band. Spot gold hit
a 15-month top at $1,303.60 a tonne on May 2.
* U.S. gold GCcv1 slipped half a percent to $1,287.70.
* The U.S. economy added the fewest number of jobs in seven
months in April and Americans dropped out of the labour force,
signs of weakness that left some economists anticipating only
one interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve this year. But
encouraging annual wage growth data helped the dollar to
recover. USD/
* New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley who said
two U.S. rate hikes this year were still a "reasonable
expectation" also helped the dollar to rebound.
* A run of Chinese data this week is expected to show
activity moderated in April after a strong showing in March. A
Reuters poll forecast a small drop in all-important exports last
month.
* Hedge funds and money managers raised their net long
positions in COMEX gold and copper contracts in the week to May
3, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on
Friday.
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MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks ended slightly higher on Friday as investors
warmed to data showing U.S. wage growth in April despite
weaker-than-expected jobs growth, while the wages data also
pushed longer-dated Treasury yields higher. MKTS/GLOB
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0600 Germany Industrial orders Mar
0830 Euro zone Sentix index May
1400 U.S. Employment trends Apr