PRECIOUS-Gold inches up on bargain hunting; awaits U.S. data

* Gold tracks early gains in euro, eyes U.S. data

* Forecasts are for cut of 50,000 jobs in Feb

* Coming Up: U.S. employment report for Feb, 1330 GMT (Updates prices)

By Lewa Pardomuan

SINGAPORE, March 5 (Reuters) - Gold edged up on bargain hunting on Friday before the release of U.S. payrolls data, which could raise concerns about the pace of an economic recovery and hurt the dollar while lifting the bullion's allure as an alternative investment.

Light buying from Chinese dealers also pushed up prices but volumes were thin ahead of the U.S. data that is expected to show a big loss of jobs due to major snowstorms last month. U.S. non-farm payrolls are forecast to have fallen 50,000 in February after losing 20,000 in January, according to a Reuters survey.

Spot gold <XAU=> hit an intraday high of $1,135.20 an ounce to track early gains in euro and stood at $1,132.45 an ounce by 0633 GMT, up $1 from New York's notional close on Thursday.

Key resistance was seen at a January high of around $1,150 and gold hovered about 6 percent below a lifetime high of around $1,200 struck in December last year.

"We don't know where to head to. Maybe we will see a rangebound trade of $1,120 to $1,150 for the time being," said Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong. "Overall, people are still expecting further rises in gold."

Gold has risen as much as $30 this week before profit taking kicked in on Thursday. It had jumped to 6-½ week high on Wednesday as uncertainty about Greece's ability to repay its crippling debt increased the metal's appeal as a hedge against currency volatility.

U.S. gold futures for April delivery <GCJ0> was unchanged at $1,133.1 an ounce.

In the physical market, sales of scrap from Indonesia slowed down and dealers noted bargain hunting as gold hovered around $11 below this week's high.

"Indonesia has been on the selling side in the last two days but we don't see much selling today. Scrap has disappeared and I see a little of buying from the Chinese side," a dealer in Singapore said.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings stood at 1,115.511 tonnes as of March 4, unchanged from the previous business day. [GOL/SPDR]

The euro <EUR=> was on the defensive on Friday, as a short squeeze in the single currency appeared to have run in course, with investors fretting about debt-laden Greece and Moody's cutting Deutsche Bank's ratings. [USD/]

"It's terribly quiet and people need something to focus on. That's why we are waiting for the payrolls data," a dealer in Hong Kong said.

"It's absolutely dead but we do see selling out of Japan which affects platinum prices," he added.

Platinum <XPT=> shed $3 an ounce to $1,573.50 an ounce, still within sight of a 1-month high hit on Wednesday.

Oil <CLc1> edged up on Friday, capping two consecutive weeks of trading above $80, after China signalled it would maintain its economic stimulus, rekindling hopes for accelerating growth to drain excess oil supplies. [O/R] Precious metals prices at 0633 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover Spot Gold 1132.45 1.00 +0.09 3.35 Spot Silver 17.15 0.05 +0.29 1.90 Spot Platinum 1573.50 -3.00 -0.19 7.26 Spot Palladium 461.75 3.25 +0.71 13.87 TOCOM Gold 3262.00 31.00 +0.96 0.09 36271 TOCOM Platinum 4508.00 75.00 +1.69 2.90 16011 TOCOM Silver 49.80 0.80 +1.63 -3.68 698 TOCOM Palladium 1322.00 67.00 +5.34 13.48 1002 Euro/Dollar 1.3576 Dollar/Yen 89.32 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. (Editing by Himani Sarkar)