SINGAPORE, Sep 4 (Reuters) Gold held near London levels on Tuesday ahead of the release of U.S. eco

SINGAPORE, Sep 4 (Reuters) Gold held near London levels on Tuesday ahead of the release of U.S. economic data, which may offer new direction to precious metals.

-- Spot gold was at $671.50/672.30 an ounce, hardly changed from $671.80/672.40 late in London. Markets in New York were closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

-- The benchmark August 2008 gold futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange fell 9 yen per gram to 2,525 yen.

-- The dollar was steady against the euro and the yen as players awaited the release of U.S. data for clues on how much the credit market turmoil has affected growth.

-- The euro was little changed at $1.3615 and the dollar also barely moved against the yen at 115.80 yen .

-- U.S. data due this week includes the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing activity in August on Tuesday, the Fed's beige book summary of the economy's performance on Wednesday and the monthly non-farm payrolls report on Friday.

-- Economists expect a median reading of 53.0 for the ISM index versus 53.8 in July. The market is looking for the Fed to cut rates by at least 25 basis points to 5.0 percent at its Sept. 18 policy meeting.

-- Platinum rose to $1,267/1,272 an ounce from $1,264.50/1,271.50 late in London.

-- Palladium also rose to $329/334 an ounce from $328/332 an ounce.

- Silver edged down to $12.05/12.10 an ounce from $12.08/12.13 an ounce.

Precious metals prices at 0036 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Turnover Spot Gold 671.50 -0.60 -0.09 5.63 Spot Silver 12.05 -0.06 -0.50 -6.23 Spot Platinum 1268.00 1.50 +0.12 12.01 Spot Palladium 329.00 1.00 +0.30 -0.90 TOCOM Gold 2525.00 -9.00 -0.36 3.27 7256 TOCOM Platinum 4677.00 -5.00 -0.11 9.94 5146 TOCOM Silver 452.80 -1.80 -0.40 -8.21 323 TOCOM Palladium 1249.00 -8.00 -0.64 -0.48 56 Euro/Dollar 1.3610 Dollar/Yen 115.87 TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.

REUTERS BJR KN0640