Gold eases before US jobs data and as equities gain

Gold prices eased on Thursday as investors locked in profits before this week's US non-farm payrolls data and as a rally in stock markets briefly halted the metal's recent strong run.

Spot gold was 0.3% lower at $1,414.95 an ounce by 1032 GMT. US gold futures were down 0.2% at $1,417.70 an ounce.

"Investors are already very long on gold, but it has still not pushed to new highs," said ABN AMRO analyst Georgette Boele, adding the newsflow was not enough to drive follow-up buying.

"We have very big longs and they really need to have very positive news to push prices higher," she said.

With Wall Street closed for a US holiday, the gold market was less liquid and investors were focussed on Friday's US non-farm payrolls for indications on rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve's July meeting, analysts said.

Economists expect non-farm payrolls to have risen by 160,000 in June compared with 75,000 in May.

Government bonds were near multi-year lows on bets the US Federal Reserve would cut interest rates this month and that other major central banks would embrace looser monetary policy, pushing world stocks to new 18-month highs.

Expectations of a dovish approach to monetary policy globally, have driven inflows into gold. Lower interest rates tend to make non-yielding gold more attractive to investors.

Bullion hit a six-year high last week at $1,438.63 an ounce, driven by a dovish outlook from major central banks and an escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran.

"We continue to see central banks cutting rates later this year, which means that the rally in gold will continue," said Xiao Fu, head of commodity markets strategy at Bank of China International Global Commodities (UK).

"The equity markets are quite stretched and heading into bubble-like territory," she said, adding gold could offer better value at current prices than equities.

On the technical front, spot gold may retest a resistance at $1,435 an ounce, leading to gains in the $1,443-$1,456 range, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.

Silver was down 0.1% at $15.28 per ounce, and platinum rose 0.1% to $837.50 per ounce.

Palladium dipped 0.7% to $1,560.95 per ounce. The metal touched an over three-month peak of $1,574 on Wednesday.