Gold prices declined on Friday as the US dollar ticked up against the euro after US jobs data showed a robust rise in jobs and wages and 10-year US Treasury yields peaked. Non-farm payrolls rose by 200,000 jobs in January, the US Labour Department said, beating expectation of 180,000 and their largest annual gain in more than 8-1/2 years. Average hourly earnings rose and boosted the year-on-year increase to 2.9 percent, the largest rise since June 2009.
"The hawkish reading of the data is proving to be a trigger point for more downside pressure in gold in the short-term," said Suki Cooper, precious metals analyst at Standard Chartered Bank. Spot gold dropped 1 percent at $1,335.26 an ounce by 1:34 pm EST (1834 GMT), while US gold futures for April delivery settled down $10.60, or 0.8 percent, at $1,337.30.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields extended their rise to more than 2.8 percent reaching a 4-year high after the US jobs data was released. "The fact that it's gone up that fast that quick could force the Fed to act more aggressively before the March meeting if the 10-year gets to three percent," said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures. Gold is set to end this week 1.1 percent lower, after rising in six out of the last seven weeks and hitting its highest in 17 months last week at $1,366.07.
On the wider markets, world stocks were set to post their biggest weekly drop since late 2016 as talk of central bank policy tightening and expectations of higher inflation boosted borrowing costs globally. Holding gold offers a degree of insurance if the broader market suffers a correction, ScotiaMocatta said in a monthly report this week. Silver dropped 2.9 percent at $16.73 an ounce after hitting $16.66, its lowest since Dec. 28. It was poised for a 3.8 percent weekly decline.
Platinum declined 1.2 percent at $993.50 per ounce, on track for a 1.6 percent weekly drop. Palladium rose 0.6 percent at $1,043.50 per ounce. After hitting record highs this month, palladium is on track for its biggest weekly drop since early September, down 4.2 percent.
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