Gold heads for second weekly fall; spotlight on US payrolls data

Gold prices held steady on Friday but were headed for a second straight week of decline, while focus shifted to the U.S. payrolls data due later in the day.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was unchanged at $2,631.60 per ounce, as of 0022 GMT, dropping about 0.8% so far this week.


* U.S. gold futures were up 0.3% to $2,654.70.

* Traders will scan the U.S. payrolls report, due at 1330 GMT, for cues on U.S. rate cut trajectory.

* Non-farm payrolls likely increased by 200,000 jobs in November after rising by 12,000 in October, the lowest number since December 2020, a Reuters survey showed.

* Data on Thursday showed the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, pointing to steadily easing labour market conditions heading into the final.

* According to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool, markets currently see a 70.1% chance of a 25-basis-points Federal Reserve rate cut this month.

* Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday said the U.S. economy was stronger than it had appeared in September, when the central bank began cutting rates, allowing policymakers to potentially be a little more cautious in reducing rates further.

* Higher rates dull non-yielding bullion's appeal.

* Spot silver was flat at $31.31 per ounce, platinum dropped 0.3% to $935.99 and palladium rose 0.3% to $965.85. Silver is up for this week, while both platinum and palladium are headed for their second straight week of losses.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0700 Germany Industrial Output MM Oct 0700 Germany Industrial Production YY SA Oct 0700 UK Halifax House Prices MM Nov 0700 UK Halifax House Prices YY Nov 0745 France Reserve Assets Total Nov 1000 EU GDP Revised QQ Q3 1000 EU GDP Revised YY Q3 1330 US Non-Farm Payrolls Nov 1330 US Unemployment Rate Nov 1330 US Average Earnings YY Nov 1500 US U Mich Sentiment Prelim Dec.