Gold steadied on Friday as investors assessed US non-farm payrolls data that could open the door to a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in September, but was still on course for a weekly fall. Nonfarm payrolls increased 215,000 last month as a pickup in construction and manufacturing employment offset further declines in the mining sector, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate held at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent.
"Although the market is reading the US data as supportive of a Fed rate hike in September and is boosting the dollar, it is still finding value in gold against other assets like equities," ActivTrades chief analyst Carlo Alberto de Casa said. Spot gold, which hit a session low of $1,082.76 an ounce immediately after the US jobs report, managed to rebound 0.5 percent to $1,095.26 by 1245 GMT. It had fallen to $1,077 on July 24, its weakest since February 2010.
Prices were still marginally down on the week, with a seventh weekly loss in a row matching a similar losing streak in May-June 1999. US gold for December delivery was up 0.4 percent at $1,094 an ounce. The dollar reversed earlier losses and gained 0.3 percent against a basket of leading currencies, while global shares fell, against which gold is seen as an alternative investment.
Analysts continued to see gold's upside as temporary, due to strong prospects for the dollar. The metal has lost 7.5 percent this year so far, as investors positioned themselves for an interest rate increase in the United States this year. Higher interest rates would put non-yield-bearing gold under further pressure, increasing the opportunity cost of holding the metal. A slew of upbeat US economic data, including Thursday's positive weekly jobless claims, shows "there's not really much to stop the Fed from increasing rates", said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney.
"There's not a lot of natural reasons for investors to buy gold at the moment. The dollar is getting stronger and there's no real sign of inflation on the horizon with weaker oil prices and other commodities," Spooner said. Gold buyers in Asia were in no hurry, anticipating the market to weaken further, with premiums in India and Hong Kong picking up only modestly this week. Spot platinum was up 0.4 percent at $954.24 an ounce, while palladium rose 1.1 percent to $601.50 and silver gained 2.2 percent to $14.89 an ounce.