PRECIOUS-Gold steadies, on course for weekly gain as dollar eases on U.S. data

* Palladium falls 1.5%
* Platinum, silver set for first weekly decline in four
weeks

(Updates prices)
By Diptendu Lahiri
Aug 2 (Reuters) - Gold steadied on Friday in seesaw trade as
the dollar retreated on lackluster U.S. jobs data, putting
bullion on course to notch its best week in six weeks following
a surge of more than 2% in the previous session as U.S.-China
trade relations soured further.
Spot gold XAU= was steady at $1,444.86 per ounce at 01:41
p.m. EDT (1741 GMT), retracing earlier declines of about 1%. The
yellow metal is up nearly 2% so far this week.
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 settled 1.8% higher at $1,457.50.
Gold has been supported by a "big push by global major
central banks to lower interest rates in light of deteriorating
macro conditions," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said.
"The one thing restraining gold a little was the strength in
the dollar, but with the dollar weaker today, it seems to have
opened up some running room for gold on the upside."
Bullion rose more than 2% on Thursday after U.S. President
Donald Trump said he would slap an extra 10% tariff on $300
billion worth of Chinese imports and would raise it further if
trade talks do not progress. "(It's) a bit of a psychological move. Prices have been
around these levels ($1,440-$1,450/oz) a few times now, and it
has difficulty to push higher, which makes investors a bit more
nervous," ABN Amro analyst Georgette Boele said.
Data pointing to slow U.S. job growth in July, coupled with
an escalation in trade tensions, could give the Federal Reserve
fresh ammunition to cut interest rates again next month. "The trend in gold is up," said Bob Haberkorn, senior market
strategist at RJO Futures.
Lower interest rates tend to boost gold as they reduce the
opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion and also weigh
on the dollar.
Spot gold may retest resistance at $1,449 per ounce, a break
above which could lead to a rise into the $1,461-$1,474 per
ounce range, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. TECH/C
Separately, palladium XPD= fell 1.5 % to $1,403.41 per
ounce, after breaking below the $1,400 level for the first time
since mid-June to its lowest in more than seven weeks at
$1,378.50.
Platinum XPT= was up 0.3% at $846.30 per ounce, while
silver XAG= fell 0.4% to $16.26 per ounce.
"The scenario is slightly more complicated for silver, as
the component of the demand for this metal coming from the
industrial sector is much higher than gold and the trade war
could have a more significant impact," Carlo Alberto De Casa,
chief analyst, ActivTrades, said in a client note.
Both silver and platinum appeared set for their first weekly
decline in four weeks.

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