SINGAPORE, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Gold prices were little changed on Friday as investors remained cautious ahead of a key U.S. payrolls report due later in the day, after recent data sent mixed signals about the status of the world's largest economy.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold traded flat at $1,824.34 an ounce by 0025 GMT, on course for a weekly decline of 0.2 percent.
* U.S. gold
* Caution is likely to prevail before the key U.S. August employment report is released at 1230 GMT. Nonfarm payrolls are expected to have increased 75,000, slowing from July's 117,000 rise, according to a Reuters survey.
* U.S. manufacturing unexpectedly grew in August and fewer Americans filed new claims for jobless aid last week despite a slump in confidence that threatened to push the economy back into recession.
* New York metal market will be closed on Sept. 5 in observance of the U.S. Labour Day holiday, but the CME Globex electronic platform will be open on Monday for shortened hours.
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MARKET NEWS
* Wall Street's four-day rally ground to a halt on Thursday, with major indexes falling 1 percent on caution ahead of the labor market report expected to underscore fears the economy is headed for another recession.
* The dollar traded steady against a basket of currencies on Friday.
DATA/EVENTS 1200 Brazil GDP yy Apr 1230 U.S. Employment report Aug 1930 U.S. CFTC Commitments of traders Weekly <0#CFTC>
PRICES Precious metals prices 0025 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1824.34 -0.21 -0.01 28.52 Spot Silver 41.51 0.07 +0.17 34.51 Spot Platinum 1842.74 -1.11 -0.06 4.26 Spot Palladium 779.22 -0.13 -0.02 -2.54 TOCOM Gold 4519.00 21.00 +0.47 21.19 32034 TOCOM Platinum 4605.00 -21.00 -0.45 -1.94 2910 TOCOM Silver 102.20 0.40 +0.39 26.17 338 TOCOM Palladium 1941.00 -11.00 -0.56 -7.44 443 COMEX GOLD DEC1 1827.50 -1.60 -0.09 28.57 956 COMEX SILVER DEC1 41.59 0.06 +0.14 34.42 387 Euro/Dollar 1.4271 Dollar/Yen 76.92 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months (Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Himani Sarkar)