By Rujun Shen
SINGAPORE, June 2 (Reuters) - Spot gold held steady on Thursday, supported by worries about economic recovery triggered by sluggish U.S. employment and manufacturing data, and as optimism over a solution to the Greek debt crisis faded after Moody's cut the country's credit rating.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold edged up 0.1 percent to $1,541.89 an ounce by 0048 GMT, extending gains from the previous session.
* U.S. gold
* Fears mounted that the U.S. economy may be running out of steam as data showed that companies hired far fewer workers than expected in May and output in the manufacturing sector hit its lowest level since 2009. [ID:nN01147563]
* The cloudy economic outlook drove investors to seek a safe haven in gold, pushing the holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, up 2.121 tonnes to 1,212.866 tonnes.
* Moody's cut Greece's credit rating by three notches on debt restructuring worries, dampening optimism earlier in the week that the debt-laden country would receive a second bailout package and avoid restructuring. [ID:nLDE75038N]
* Spot silver gained 0.7 percent to $37.06, after
slipping more than 4 percent in the previous session. U.S.
silver
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MARKET NEWS
* Wall Street ended a four-day rally with its weakest session since August on Wednesday and could suffer more losses in coming days as investors faced more signs the economic recovery is fading.
* The euro strengthened against the greenback on Thursday, paring losses after Greece's credit rating was cut on Wednesday.
DATA/EVENTS 1230 U.S. Unemployment claims Weekly 1400 U.S. Factory orders April
PRICES Precious metals prices 0048 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1541.89 1.69 +0.11 8.63 Spot Silver 37.06 0.27 +0.73 20.09 Spot Platinum 1820.24 5.99 +0.33 2.98 Spot Palladium 769.97 3.99 +0.52 -3.69 TOCOM Gold 4029.00 10.00 +0.25 8.05 29310 TOCOM Platinum 4800.00 -18.00 -0.37 2.21 5276 TOCOM Silver 96.70 -3.30 -3.30 19.38 1027 TOCOM Palladium 2020.00 -10.00 -0.49 -3.67 159 COMEX GOLD AUG1 1543.20 0.00 +0.00 8.57 3207 COMEX SILVER JUL1 37.08 -0.62 -1.64 19.83 1589 Euro/Dollar 1.4347 Dollar/Yen 81.09 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
(Editing by Ed Lane)