REFILE-PRECIOUS-Gold steadies on bargain hunting; ETF holdings

(Refiles to additional subscribers)

* Silver off Friday peak

* Dollar on the defensive after U.S. payrolls

* Coming Up: Euro zone Sentix index for September; 0830 GMT (Updates prices, graphic)

By Lewa Pardomuan

SINGAPORE, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Gold held steady on Monday as bargain hunting helped the metal defy pressure from firming stock markets and shrug off growing optimism the U.S. economy would not fall back into recession.

But bullion was likely to trade in a tight $10 range, with U.S. investors away for the Labor Day holiday, while silver <XAG=> was hardly changed after rallying to its strongest since March 2008 on Friday as investors booked profits and ETF holdings dropped.

Spot gold <XAU=> added 26 cents to $1,248.30 an ounce by 0534 GMT, having fallen as low as $1,235.70 on Friday on a U.S. labor market report that was much less weak than feared. Gold struck a lifetime high around $1,264 an ounce in late June.

"I am actually just expecting gold to trade between $1,240 and $1,250 region. It's just a bit of a range bound between these two levels," said Ong Yi Ling, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.

"I would still expect gold to be supported as it was able to rebound quite sharply from its session low of about $1,235 all the way to $1,245 level. The ISM non-manufacturing data was actually not as good."

U.S. gold futures for December delivery <GCZ0> was barely moved at $1,250.3 an ounce.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust <GLD.P>, said its holdings slipped to 1,294.442 tonnes by Sept 3 from 1,294.908 tonnes on Sept 2. The holdings surged to a record 1,320.436 tonnes on June 29. [GOL/SPDR]

Asian stocks touched one-month highs on Monday after the latest U.S. jobs data soothed investors worried about a second recession in the world's biggest economy. [MKTS/GLOB]

U.S. non-farm payrolls fell 54,000, the Labor Department said, a much smaller drop than the predicted 100,000. The U.S. non-manufacturing sector grew in August for an eighth straight month, but at a slower pace than July and at a rate that was below expectations. [ID:nN02227856] [ID:nN0387200]

"There's a bit of buying at lower prices. It looks like everybody is still slightly bullish on gold because the U.S. economy is only recovering very slowly," said a dealer in Hong Kong.

"Silver lags gold, so it's worth buying. There's a selling in silver today but it's not aggressive," said the dealer, adding that the metal had attracted buying from the industrial sector last week.

The ratio of gold to silver -- or how many ounces of silver are needed to buy an ounce of gold -- held near its lowest level since April at around 62. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

For a graphic showing gold to silver ratio, click: http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/AS/0810/LWP_20100609132059.j pg ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^> The world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, the iShares Silver Trust <SLV>, said its holdings dropped to 9,276.73 tonnes by Sept. 3 from 9,280.40 tonnes on Sept. 1. [ID:nSGE685017]

In currencies, the dollar was on the defensive after firm U.S. payrolls data last week eased market anxiety over chances of a double-dip recession and boosted demand for the euro and growth-leveraged currencies. [USD/]

Oil fell for a second straight session as the end of the driving season in the United States and record petroleum stockpiles there fuelled doubt that supplies would drain in the face of tepid economic growth. [O/R] Precious metals prices at 0533 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover Spot Gold 1248.30 0.26 +0.02 13.93 Spot Silver 19.88 0.01 +0.05 18.12 Spot Platinum 1560.20 6.80 +0.44 6.35 Spot Palladium 527.25 0.57 +0.11 30.02 TOCOM Gold 3395.00 -2.00 -0.06 4.17 20230 TOCOM Platinum 4268.00 41.00 +0.97 -2.58 11377 TOCOM Silver 54.30 0.90 +1.69 5.03 763 TOCOM Palladium 1443.00 24.00 +1.69 23.86 239 Euro/Dollar 1.2896 Dollar/Yen 84.35 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. (Editing by Himani Sarkar)