SINGAPORE, May 6 (Reuters) - Gold looked likely to extend losses to a fifth straight session on Friday as the dollar rebounded ahead of U.S. non-farm payrolls data later in the session.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was little changed at $1,276.80 an ounce by 0041 GMT after four days of losses.
* The metal has closed lower every session this week despite hitting a 15-month top of $1,303.60 on Monday.
* Gold is down 1.3 percent for the week, its biggest weekly drop in six though the direction could change depending on U.S. jobs data later.
* The dollar rose to a one-week high against a basket of major currencies on Thursday after sliding to a 15-month low this week as traders closed out profitable bets against the greenback before the U.S. payrolls report. USD/
* Investors are eyeing U.S. economic data to gauge the Federal Reserve's outlook on monetary policy.
* The Fed raised rates for the first time in a decade in December from near zero but has since stood pat, in part because of global economic uncertainty.
* A strong payrolls numbers could prompt the Fed to raise rates sooner than later.
* Economists polled by Reuters forecast U.S. employers likely added 202,000 workers in April following a 215,000 increase in March with the jobless rate holding at 5.0 percent.
* Gold is sensitive to interest rates and returns on other assets as rising rates lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
* Assets in SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.47 percent to 829.44 tonnes on Thursday to the highest in over two years. GOL/ETF
* Silver demand hit a record high last year as increased buying by the coin and bar, jewellery and photovoltaic sectors offset weakness in industrial demand, a Silver Institute report showed on Thursday. Soaring silver prices are changing the market's 2016 landscape as bargain-hunting coin buyers step to the sidelines, and futures and options participants take the reins, said Erica Rannestad, a senior analyst at GFMS. For the top stories on metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or GOL
MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks ended steady on Thursday as a mixed quarterly earnings season winds down, but Treasury yields fell to two week lows as investors hedged positions ahead of the monthly U.S. government employment report due on Friday. MKTS/GLOB
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
1230 U.S. Nonfarm payrolls Apr
1230 U.S. Unemployment rate Apr
PRICES AT 0041 GMT Metal
Last
Change Pct chg
Spot gold
1276.8
-0.86
-0.07 Spot silver
17.35
0.024
0.14 Spot platinum
1056.99
-0.75
-0.07 Spot palladium
597
-0.05
-0.01 Comex gold
1279
6.7
0.53 Comex silver
17.395
0.068
0.39
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months