Gold heads for slight weekly gains as markets await US jobs data

Gold prices stabilized today (Friday), poised to post slight weekly gains, as attention turned to upcoming U.S. jobs data in search of clues about the Federal Reserve’s (the U.S. central bank) next interest rate decision.

Spot gold prices held steady at $4,469.26 per ounce. Prices surged 2% on Thursday (Thursday) as traders scaled back expectations of an interest rate hike this month after Christopher Waller, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, said he would support keeping interest rates unchanged if data continued to show easing inflation pressures. U.S. December gold futures fell 0.5% to $4,515.70.

In other metals, spot silver fell 0.5% to $66.59 per ounce. Platinum dropped 1.2% to $1,803.53, and palladium declined by approximately 1.3% to $1,403.03, with both metals on track to record slight weekly losses.