PRECIOUS-Gold steadies around $940 after NY fall

TOKYO, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Gold steadied to trade around $940
on Friday after ending lower in the previous session pressured by
weak jewellery demand, although worries about the economy
provided support.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Gold XAU= was at $940.15 per ounce at 2349 GMT, up 0.1
percent from the notional New York close of $939.35.

* U.S. gold futures for December delivery GCZ9 were at
$942.3 per ounce, up 0.1 percent.

* The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the
SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), said holdings held steady at 1,065.49
tonnes as of Aug. 20. [GOL/SPDR]

* Platinum XPT= was largely flat around $1,237.50 per ounce
after Impala Platinum (IMPJ.J) said on Thursday it would seek
further talks with a South African union planning an indefinite
strike next week.

MARKET NEWS

* The dollar and the yen edged lower on Thursday in thin
trade as gains in global stock markets and upbeat U.S. regional
manufacturing data eroded safe-haven demand for the two
currencies. [USD/]

* U.S. stocks rose for a third straight session on Thursday
with financial stocks leading gains after U.S. manufacturing data
and a rebound in Chinese stocks reassured investors. [.N]

* World gold demand fell 9 percent in the second quarter as
high prices and the global recession hit jewellery consumption,
an industry report showed this week. [ID:nLI424384]

DATA EVENTS

* The following data is expected on Friday: ECON

- French markit Aug flash PMI manufacturing, services (0658
GMT)

- German flash Aug PMI manufacturing, services (0728 GMT)

- Eurozone markit flash Aug PMI manufacturing, services (0758
GMT)

- U.S. existing home sales for July (1400 GMT)

- U.S. ECRI weekly (1430 GMT)

RELATED NEWS
>Gold falls on weak jewelry demand, eyes currencies [GOL/]
>Sugar slides; steady gains wary of CFTC [COM/WRAP]
>Platinum miner Implats seeks to avert strike [ID:nLK86033]
>US economy data mixed but stronger rebound seen [ID:nLK526751]
>Wall St up on factory data, China; banks rally [ID:nN20534521]

PRICES

Precious metals prices at 2344 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg Day ago pct MA 30 RSI
Spot gold $940.10 $0.75 +0.08% +4.80% $860.10 45
Spot silver $13.90 $0.01 +0.07% +16.03% $11.29 42
Spot plat $1237.50 $1.00 +0.08% +0.24% $1220.60 52
COMEX gold $940.30 -$3.10 -0.33% +0.27% $944.87 xx
TOCOM gold 2,858 -20 -0.69% +0.32% 2,905 40
TOCOM plat 3,765 -28 -0.74% +1.76% 3,733 xx48
Currencies
Euro/dlr $1.426 $0.001 +0.10% +0.21%
Dlr/yen 94.23 0.03 +0.03% +0.18%
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Reporting by Miho Yoshikawa; Editing by Joseph Radford)