Singapore Stocks-Slip at midday, caution ahead of US jobs data

* Index down 0.56 percent, seen in 2,700-2,770 in afternoon

* Investors await cue from U.S. non-farm payrolls data

By Charmian Kok

SINGAPORE, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Singapore shares were lower at midday on Friday in muted trading as investors booked profits ahead of employment data from the U.S. due later in the day and on lingering concerns over the euro zone's debt woes.

Commodity stocks were among the weaker performers on the benchmark index, hurt by waning risk appetite in the morning trading session.

At 0500 GMT, the Straits Times Index (STI) was down 0.56 percent, or 15.34 points, at 2,746.54. Around 299.8 million shares worth S$268.6 million were traded, compared with 886.8 million shares worth S$862.1 million that changed hands by the same time on Thursday.

The index had jumped 2.2 percent on Thursday, its biggest single day gain in more than a month.

"People are taking some profits off the table after the rally yesterday. There is also some caution as investors are waiting for employment figures coming from the U.S. tonight," said Ng Kian Teck, lead analyst at SIAS Research.

He added that he expects the STI to trade sideways in a narrow 2,700-2,770 band for the rest of the session.

U.S. will report its non-farm payrolls report at 1330 GMT, which is expected to show an increase of 122,000 jobs and a steady unemployment rate of 9.0 percent.

"Even for the previous rally, the impact from the central banks' move is pretty short-lived as it doesn't tackle the fundamental issues, so investors continue to remain wary."

The U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the central banks of Canada, Britain, Japan and Switzerland said on Wednesday they would lower the cost of existing dollar swap lines, thus providing cheaper dollar funding.

Shares of palm oil firm Golden Agri Resources Ltd fell the most on the STI, dropping 2.1 percent to S$0.70 while larger rival Wilmar International Ltd lost 1.4 percent at S$5.09.

Precision engineering firm Amtek Engineering Ltd rose as much as 6 percent, on bargain hunting after falling to fresh lows, making its dividend yield more attractive and as investors expect its longer-term outlook to improve.

By midday, Amtek shares were 3 percent higher at S$0.515 with nearly 3.6 million shares changing hands. This was 4.2 times its average daily volume over the last five sessions.

"Its shares have been sold down quite a lot so there's some bargain hunting coming in," said Jonathan Ng, an analyst at CIMB Research.

He added that the company's fundamentals remain firm, as it has strong cashflows and its dividend yield is attractive given the drop in its share price. (Reporting by Charmian Kok; Editing by Ramya Venugopal)