WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices edged lower on Friday as fairly upbeat U.S. jobs data and acceleration in manufacturing activity eased concerns about U.S. economic growth.
A steady greenback too rendered the yellow metal weak.
The dollar index was up marginally at 95.59, after having recovered from a low of 95.40.
Gold futures for April ended down $3.10, or 0.2%, at $1,322.10 an ounce.
On Thursday, gold futures for April ended up $9.70, or 0.7%, at $1,325.20 an ounce.
After rising to a nine-month high of $1,326.10 on Thursday, gold futures retreated today on a steady dollar and encouraging jobs data.
Silver futures for March ended down $0.141, at $15.931 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $2.7730 per pound, down $0.0115 from previous session.
According to the data released by the Labor Department, non-farm payroll employment surged up by 304,000 jobs in January compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 165,000 jobs.
However, the report also showed the spike in employment in the previous month was downwardly revised to 222,000 jobs from the initially reported 312,000 jobs.
Andrew Hunter, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said the jump in employment in January still provides 'further evidence that economic growth remains solid and that the government shutdown had little impact.'
The report said unemployment rate increased to 4%, due to a rise in workers on temporary layoff as a result of the government shutdown.
A separate report from the Institute for Supply Management showed growth in the manufacturing sector unexpectedly reaccelerated in January after seeing a substantial slowdown in December.
The ISM said its purchasing managers index climbed to 56.6 in January from a revised 54.3 in December, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the manufacturing sector.
Economists had expected the manufacturing index to edge down to 54.0 from 54.1 originally reported for the previous month.
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