FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold edged up 0.1 percent to $1,646.89 an ounce by 0031 GMT, on course for its fourth consecutive week of losses with a 0.4-percent decline.
* U.S. gold gained 0.3 percent to $1,647.
* Worries about faltering global growth hit equities and commodities after weak data on manufacturing activity in China and the euro zone.
* Weighing on market sentiment, SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.59 percent, or 7.553 tonnes, to 1,282.69 tonnes on Thursday. It was the biggest one-day drop in tonnage terms in three months.
* The number of Americans claiming new unemployment benefits dropped to a four-year low last week, bolstering hopes a recent pick-up in job growth will prove lasting.
* U.S. Treasury debt prices rose on Thursday, retracing some of their recent losses, as a decline in manufacturing in China and the euro zone's two largest economies raised demand for safe-haven assets including government debt.
MARKET NEWS
* Cyclical sectors led U.S. stocks lower on Thursday, setting the S&P 500 up for its first negative week in six, after factory data showed a slowdown in both the euro zone and China.
* The safe-haven yen held on to overnight gains in Asia on Friday, having risen across the board as investors gave risk currencies like the Australian dollar a wide berth on worries about the health of the global economy.
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