MUMBAI (Reuters) - India gold futures turned steady on Friday on a lack of fresh leads, with investors awaiting the U.S. jobs report to gauge the health of U.S. economy, analysts said. The most-traded October contract was 0.03 percent lower at 14,910 rupees at 10:58 a.m. A Reuters poll of economists forecast 320,000 jobs were slashed last month, fewer than the 467,000 workers laid off in June, but the unemployment rate was expected to climb to a 26-year high of 9.6 percent. "Activity would remain subdued before the jobs data," said Debjyoti Chatterjee, associate vice-president with ADMISI Commodities. "Recovery in rupee would support gold. Gold may trade in the range of 14,860-14,980 rupees," said Krishna Reddy, an analyst with Way 2 Wealth Securities in Mumbai. The Indian rupee fell for a second straight session, as early losses in the local sharemarket weighed and trading remained thin amid a two-day strike called by Indian bank employees. Open interest for October gold on MCX was at 14,644 lots, down from 14,761 a day earlier. Volume on Thursday was 32.66 kg.

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