SINGAPORE, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Gold hit a fresh nine-week high above $1,100 an ounce on Friday, as investors sprinted to safe-haven assets due to jitters over the Chinese economy and tumbling stock markets.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was steady at $1,108.65 an ounce by 0044 GMT, after climbing to $1,112 earlier in the session, its highest since Nov. 4.
* U.S. gold GCcv1 rose to $1,113.10, also a nine-week high. Both have gained nearly 5 percent this week.
* Shares on major exchanges fell for a sixth straight day on Thursday and crude oil prices touched multi-year lows as investors fretted over the state of China's economy and its ability to stabilize its stock market.
* In a move that deepened concerns over China's economic health, the People's Bank of China set the yuan midpoint rate lower for an eighth consecutive day. The 0.5 percent decline was the biggest between daily fixings since August.
* Chinese markets face a day of high drama on Friday as share trading resumes with no automatic mechanism in place to restrict selling and the world watches to see if Beijing will allow its currency to fall yet further.
* China's central bank is under increasing pressure from policy advisers to let the yuan currency fall quickly and sharply, by as much as 10-15 percent, as its recent gradual softening is thought to be doing more harm than good. With the risk-averse sentiment in the market, gold - often seen as a hedge against geopolitical and financial uncertainty - rallied, along with other haven assets such as the Japanese yen and U.S. Treasuries.
* In a sign of improving investor sentiment, assets of SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the top gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.65 percent to 645.13 tonnes on Thursday, the first increase in three weeks.
* A softer dollar and news that China bought gold for its reserves in December were also supportive for gold. With the U.S. non-farm payrolls report due later on Friday, the focus later in the session could turn to U.S. economy and its impact on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.
* A strong report could prompt the Fed to raise U.S. rates at a faster pace. Higher rates could dent demand for non-interest-paying gold while boosting the dollar.
* For the top stories on metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or GOL
PRICES AT 0044 GMT Metal
Last
Change Pct chg
Spot gold
1108.65
-0.45
-0.04 Spot silver
14.29
-0.01
-0.07 Spot platinum
873.05
-0.75
-0.09 Spot palladium
494.25
2
0.41 Comex gold
1108.4
0.6
0.05 Comex silver
14.3 -0.044
-0.31
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months