Gold retains two-day decline ahead of U.S. jobs data

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold held declines from a two-day losing streak on Friday, ahead of a crucial U.S. jobs report as traders waited for clues about the timing of a Federal Reserve rate hike.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold (XAU=) was little changed at $1,125.31 an ounce by 0040 GMT, after losing about 1 percent in the last two sessions. The metal fell to a one-week low of $1,121.35 on Thursday.

* U.S. gold (GCcv1) was also firm at $1,124.90.

* Bullion came under pressure on Thursday as the dollar ticked higher after European central bankers cut economic growth targets and left interest rates unchanged.

* The greenback also gained on U.S. weekly jobless claims data that signalled strength in the labour markets, the day before Friday's August jobs report, which may be crucial for Fed policymakers considering raising interest rates.

* Strong economic data could prompt the Fed to raise rates sooner than later, hurting non-interest-paying bullion and boosting the dollar.

* The U.S. non-farm payrolls due later today come just days ahead of a Fed policy meet on Sept. 16-17.

* Also weighing on bullion was the absence of Chinese buyers with markets in the major gold consumer closed through Friday for public holidays.

* In other industry news, Russia produced 113.3 tonnes of gold in the first half of 2015 down from 115.6 tonnes in the same period a year ago, its finance ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

* A Dubai-based gold and jewellery retailer that defaulted on loans worth about 500 million dirhams ($136 million) has asked banks for time to put together a repayment plan, the company said on Thursday.

* For the top stories on metals and other news, click [TOP/MTL] or [GOL]

MARKET NEWS

* The euro nursed losses early on Friday, having come under broad pressure after the European Central Bank gave a sobering assessment of the euro zone economy and suggested it may have to beef up its already massive stimulus programme. [USD/]

DATA AHEAD (GMT)

0600 Germany industrial orders for July

1230 US Non-Farm Payrolls for August

1230 US Unemployment Rate for August

PRICES AT 0040 GMT

Metal Last Change Pct chg

Spot gold 1125.31 0.46 0.04

Spot silver 14.66 -0.11 -0.74

Spot platinum 1003.49 2.49 0.25

Spot palladium 573.5 0.5 0.09

Comex gold 1124.9 0.4 0.04

Comex silver 14.67 -0.037 -0.25

Euro 1.113

DXY 96.316

COMEX gold and silver contracts show the

most active months

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Joseph Radford)