PRECIOUS-Gold steadies near $1,050/oz, ETF unchanged

* Gold looks set to post monthly gain of about 4 pct

* More data needed to confirm U.S. out of recession -trader

* SPDR Gold holdings flat, iShares Silver rises 1.5 pct

By Chikako Mogi

TOKYO, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose slightly toward $1,050 per ounce on Friday as the dollar remained pressured, buffing up bullion's allure as an alternative to the falling U.S. currency.

Gold is now down about 2 percent from record highs above $1,070 hit on Oct. 14, but looks set to end October with a rise of about 4 percent on the month, and is down 0.6 percent on the week.

Investors began taking profits on gold when the dollar took a break from its fall after hitting 14-month lows against the euro this week. But the prospect of U.S. interest rates staying very low into next year kept alive selling pressure on the dollar.

Gold gained 2 percent on Thursday after data showing the U.S. economy returning to growth hit the dollar and drove Wall Street into rally mode.

"We need to see more data to confirm that the U.S. economy is really coming out of recession. The market is likely to stay in recent ranges until next week's U.S. nonfarm payrolls data," said Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.

"People are buying at the dip, and some demand was confirmed when the market underwent a correction, but it was not in large volume. If the market went down to $1,000, we might see more demand," he said.

Leung said he expected gold prices to face near-term resistance around $1,050, with prices staying in the $1,025-$1,070 range set since gold hit record highs.

Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,047.70 per ounce by 0614 GMT, compared to New York's notional close of $1,044.95.

It hit a three-week low of $1,025.75 on Thursday.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery edged up to $1,048.30 per ounce, compared to $1,047.10 an ounce on the COMEX division of NYMEX.

Investors found silver more appealing after prices had hit three-week lows this week.

The world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, the iShares Silver Trust , said its bullion holdings stood at 8,744 tonnes by Thursday, up 131.43 tonnes or 1.5 percent from the previous day. [ID:T312529]

It is the first rise in about two weeks and the biggest percentage rise in about four months.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust , said its holdings stood at 1,104.434 tonnes as of Oct. 29, unchanged from the previous business day, after falling for three days in a row. [GOL/SPDR]

Other precious metals rose sharply on Thursday following gold's rise, with silver climbing more than 3 percent, platinum nearly 2 percent and palladium nearly 3 percent.

On Friday, spot silver was at $16.65 per ounce, off a three-week low of $16.08 marked on Thursday. Platinum was at $1,326.50 per ounce after touching a three-week low of $1,297.00 on Wednesday.

Precious metals prices at 0623 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover Spot Gold 1047.30 2.35 +0.22 18.99 Spot Silver 16.64 0.01 +0.06 47.00 Spot Platinum 1327.00 -10.50 -0.79 42.38 Spot Palladium 328.50 3.00 +0.92 78.05 TOCOM Gold 3074.00 63.00 +2.09 19.47 65109 TOCOM Platinum 3887.00 57.00 +1.49 46.57 18082 TOCOM Silver 487.70 14.60 +3.09 52.74 869 TOCOM Palladium 962.00 45.00 +4.91 74.91 646 Euro/Dollar 1.4825 Dollar/Yen 90.90 TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce. (Additional reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Michael Watson)