PRECIOUS-Gold gains on soft economic data; traders weigh US rate cut chances

By Pablo Sinha

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose from a one-week low on Tuesday, supported by soft U.S. employment numbers, while investors assessed the likelihood of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in December ahead of more delayed U.S. data releases this week.

Spot gold XAU= was up 0.6% at $4,068.05 per ounce, as of 12:01 a.m. ET (1701 GMT), after hitting its lowest since November 10 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 for December delivery fell 0.2% to $4,068.40 per ounce.

Data on Tuesday showed that the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits stood at a two-month high in mid-October, with continued claims for jobless benefits rising to 1.9 million in the week ended October 18.

"(The data) is slightly boosting market hopes for a December rate cut. This is helping gold and silver, which are trying to break a three-day losing streak," said Tai Wong, an independent metals trader.

Gold, a non-yielding asset, tends to do well when interest rates are lower. Prices fell over 3% on Friday and 1% on Monday as investors scaled back bets on another interest rate cut this year.

Markets now await minutes from the Fed's last meeting, due on Wednesday, and September jobs data on Thursday, both delayed due to the U.S. government shutdown.

Elevated official demand for gold is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, "supporting a strategically bullish bias and upside to our average price forecast of $4,000/oz for next year," analysts at Deutsche Bank said in a note.

Among other metals, spot silver XAG= rose 1% to $50.67 per ounce, platinum XPT= rose 7% to $1,544.66, and palladium XPD= dropped 1.2% at $1,409.72.