By Rujun Shen SINGAPORE, June 3 (Reuters) - Spot gold held steady on Friday as the dollar rebounded from a month low and investors moved to the sidelines ahead of the release of closely-watched U.S. non-farm payrolls data later in the day. Moody's threatened to cut the top-notch credit rating of the United States if the White House and Congress do not make progress by mid-July in talks to raise the U.S. debt limit, which sent the dollar index to its lowest since early May. [ID:nN01214888] The index however steadied in later Asian trade, up 0.08 percent to 74.392 at 0616 GMT. The greenback has been battered in recent weeks by a raft of sluggish U.S. economic data that has fueled fears that recovery in the world's biggest economy is losing steam. [ID:nN02246578] "If the payrolls data turns out worse than expected, it may help gold advance towards the record high in the next few days," said Hou Xinqiang, an analyst at Jinrui Futures, who said gold is still on an upward trend after a correction last month knocked prices below $1,500. Economists revised down their forecast on the May non-farm payrolls data, after a report on Wednesday showed a sharp slowdown in private job growth last month. [ID:nN01187478] Spot gold was nearly flat at $1,531.66 by 0604 GMT, after touching a one-week low of $1,519.60 in the previous session. It was headed for a minor 0.2 percent fall from a week earlier. U.S. gold GCcv1 was little changed at $1,532.90. Technical analysis suggested gold might face some downside risk in the short term, with a bearish target at $1,511, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. "A lot of people have reduced risk ahead of the payrolls data, so there is not much action in the market," said a Singapore-based trader. "But gold is still looking firm -- the dip overnight was well bought into." Investors continued watching the ongoing Greek debt crisis. Greece agreed with its EU and IMF lenders to impose yet deeper austerity and speed up state selloffs in exchange for fresh funds to avert a debt default. [ID:nLDE7510BM] Spot silver lost 0.6 percent to $35.94, on course for a 5 percent weekly decline, although it was still up 16 percent year to date, leading the precious metals complex. U.S. silver SIcv1 fell 0.7 percent to $35.94. The recent losses in silver have helped the gold-silver ratio, used to measure how many ounces of silver is needed to buy an ounce of gold, rise to a nearly two-week high above 42. Spot platinum was barely changed at $1,810.74, headed for a third week of gains at one percent. Spot palladium declined 0.3 percent to $764.50, also on its way to a one-percent weekly rise.

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