Gold inched up on Thursday and was on track for its 10th consecutive quarterly rise since 2008 as an early drop spurred cautious bargain hunting ahead of US February employment data at the end of the week. Spot gold hit an intraday low of $1,420.25 an ounce before rebounding to $1,425.95 by 0549 GMT, up $2.57 an ounce. Bullion had risen as high as $1,430 on Wednesday as resurgence of risk appetite spurred buying.