MANILA, March 7 (Reuters) - Gold edged higher in early deals on Monday as the dollar struggled, although gains were modest as Asian shares climbed to two-month highs following a robust U.S. employment report for February.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was up 0.4 percent at $1,263.41 an ounce by 0047 GMT. The metal slipped on Friday after peaking at $1,279.60, its strongest since Feb. 3, 2015.
* U.S. gold for April delivery GCcv1 dropped 0.5 percent to $1,264.40.
* Much of gold's runup on Friday came before the release of U.S. nonfarm payrolls, which showed a forecast-beating increase of 242,000 for last month. Data from the U.S. Labor Department also showed that 30,000 more jobs were added in December and January than previously reported. The latest data was the clearest sign yet of labour market strength that could further ease fears the U.S. economy was heading into recession and allow the Federal Reserve to gradually raise interest rates this year, which would be negative for non-interest yielding gold.
* Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan said he expected solid growth in the U.S. economy this year and did not expect the economy to fall into recession. Hedge funds and money managers reduced their bullish bets in COMEX gold in the week to March 1 for the first time since switching to a net long stance in mid-January, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday. For the top stories on metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or GOL
MARKET NEWS
* Asian shares jumped following upbeat U.S. jobs data and a rebound in oil commodity prices. But the greenback struggled to get going after a volatile reaction to payrolls data. MKTS/GLOB USD/
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0700 Germany
Industrial orders
Jan
0930 Euro zone
Sentix index
Mar
1500 U.S.
Employment trends
Feb