Gold fell in light trade on Thursday, snapping a three-day rally, as the bullion market took a breather after the previous session's sharp gains and ahead of Friday's key US jobs report. Palladium surged almost 4 percent, putting it on track for its largest four-day rise in a year, after encouraging November US auto sales. The industrial metal is mainly used as autocatalyst for gasoline cars. It has gained 12 percent in the last three sessions.
Gold fell 0.2 percent to $1,742.49 an ounce by 2:10 PM EST (1910 GMT), having earlier touched a two-week high of $1,754. The metal ended November with a 2 percent gain, clocking up gains in seven out of 11 months so far in 2011, but was still 9 percent below September's lifetime high at $1,920.30. In other precious metals, silver inched down 0.1 percent at $32.77 an ounce. Platinum was up 0.3 percent at $1,556.49 an ounce, while palladium rose 3.5 percent to $627.18 an ounce. Both are on track to post double-digit losses for 2011.