Investors are now awaiting the U.S. jobs numbers for more signals on the strength of the economy.
Spot gold slipped 0.3 percent to $1,288.75 per ounce by 0540 GMT, after touching its lowest since Jan. 25 at $1,280.59 in the previous session. The metal was down about 0.2 percent so far this week.
U.S. gold futures were down about 0.1 percent at $1,293.70 an ounce.
"The market is expecting some positivity in the (payrolls) data today, so if it moves against expectations there might be some sharp fluctuations in the gold price," said Benjamin Lu, an analyst with Singapore-based Phillip Futures.
"There is a strong possibility that the risk appetite might get strong if economic indicators show some sort of upturn (in the economy's strength) and we might see gold prices dropping."
Gold on Thursday breached its 100-day moving average around $1,282 an ounce for the first time since at least November, mainly pressured by robust U.S. data and an improvement in risk appetite.
Asian share markets consolidated their weekly gains as Sino-U.S. talks produced a lot of headlines but no conclusions.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday the two sides were close to a trade deal that could be announced within four weeks.
Meanwhile, holdings in the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, fell for a fourth consecutive session on Thursday. Holdings were at their lowest level since Dec. 10 at 24.52 million ounces.
Among other precious metals, spot platinum slid 0.5 percent to $892.95, after rising to its highest level since mid-June 2018 at $901.49 an ounce in the previous session.
The metal is up about 5 percent so far this week.
"Platinum is probably benefiting at the expense of palladium, as the market takes a view on auto-catalyst substitution," said Nicholas Frappell, global general manager at ABC Bullion.
Both platinum and palladium are primarily consumed by automakers for catalytic converter manufacturing.
Palladium was up 0.4 percent at $1,371.50 an ounce but was on course for its second weekly fall.
Silver was flat at $15.14 per ounce. The metal had fallen to its lowest level since end-December in the previous session.
Trading volumes are expected to be low as the world's largest gold consumer, China, is closed for the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday.