Dec 4 (Reuters) - Gold prices on Friday edged higher on cautious investor optimism over additional U.S. stimulus, while news that drugmaker Pfizer slashed the target for the rollout of its COVID-19 vaccine also helped lift the allure of the safe-haven metal.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was up 0.1% at $1,841.90 per ounce by 049 GMT, holding near previous session's peak of $1843.80 - highest in more than a week. Bullion has added about 3% so far in the week.
* U.S. gold futures GCv1 were up 0.2% at $1,844.60.
* Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) PFE.N has said in recent weeks that it anticipates producing 50 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine this year. That is down from an earlier target of 100 million doses. With U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations topping 100,000 for the first time, California's governor said stay-at-home orders could be imposed in every region of the state except the San Francisco Bay Area later this week. A bipartisan, $908 billion coronavirus aid plan gained momentum in the U.S. Congress on Thursday as conservative lawmakers expressed their support and Senate and House of Representatives leaders huddled. Gold tends to benefit from stimulus measures as it raises the prospect of inflation which bullion is used to hedge against.
* Underscoring the economic impact of the pandemic, data on Thursday showed U.S. weekly jobless claims fell last week, but remained extraordinarily high, while U.S. services industry activity slowed to a six-month low in November.
Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.1% to 1,189.82 tonnes on Thursday from 1,191.28 tonnes on Wednesday. Silver XAG= was steady at $24.07 per ounce, while platinum XPT= rose 0.1% to $1,030.50 and palladium XPD= gained 0.5% to $2,313.00.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0700 Germany Oct. Industrial Orders MM
1330 U.S. Nov. Non-Farm Payrolls
1330 U.S. Nov. Unemployment Rate
1500 U.S. Oct. Factory Orders MM