SINGAPORE, July 1 - Gold edged slightly higher on Monday after posting its biggest quarterly loss on record, as investors await key economic data this week for clues on when the Federal Reserve could taper its economic stimulus.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold rose 0.2 percent to $1,236.39 an ounce by 0018 GMT after a 3 percent gain on Friday, while Comex gold rose about $13 to $1,236.40.
* Gold fell nearly 25 percent for the April-June period, its worst quarterly performance since 1968, on fears over an early ending to the Fed's bond buying programme. The metal fell below $1,200 an ounce last week for the first time in nearly three years.
* September could be an opportune time for the Federal Reserve to consider scaling back its assets purchase, an influential official of the U.S. central bank said on Friday.
* China official manufacturing PMI is due later on Monday, while U.S. nonfarm payrolls data is expected on Friday. The strength of U.S. economic recovery is key for when the Fed would begin its scale-back.
* Hedge funds and money managers last week slashed their bullish bets in gold futures and options to their lowest levels in six years, as bullion prices fell to a three-year low, a report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday.
* The amount of gold transferred between accounts held by bullion clearers rose to a 12-year high in May at an average of 28.2 million ounces a day, data from industry group the London Bullion Market Association showed.
* Sales of American Eagle gold bullion coins plunged to 57,000 ounces in June, the lowest sales since August last year, as physical demand from retail investors and collectors sank, according to data on the U.S. Mint's website.
* Gold's choppy slide to below $1,200 an ounce after several sharp pullbacks has prompted nervous investors to buy put options to hedge against further losses.
* China's gold consumption is set to exceed 1,000 tonnes for the year, having reached about 800 tonnes in the first half, state-owned China National Gold said on Friday.
MARKET NEWS
* The dollar advanced while the Nikkei average fell.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0100 China Official manufacturing PMI
0145 China HSBC manufacturing PMI final
0500 India HSBC Markit manufacturing PMI
0743 Italy Markit/ADACI Manufacturing PMI
0748 France Markit Manufacturing PMI
0753 Germany Markit/BME Manufacturing PMI
0758 Euro zone Markit Manufacturing PMI
0900 Euro zone Inflation
0900 Euro zone Unemployment rate
1400 U.S. ISM Manufacturing PMI
1400 U.S. Construction spending
Precious metals prices 0018 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume
Spot Gold 1236.39 2.23 +0.18 -26.17
Spot Silver 19.83 0.22 +1.12 -34.51
Spot Platinum 1335.00 -3.70 -0.28 -13.03
Spot Palladium 658.72 0.41 +0.06 -4.81
COMEX GOLD AUG3 1236.40 12.70 +1.04 -26.22 8778
COMEX SILVER SEP3 0.20 0.00 +1.85 -99.34 3425
Euro/Dollar 1.3013
Dollar/Yen 99.20
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months