Gold fell further Friday from an earlier nine-week high as stronger-than-expected U.S. payrolls data boosted the dollar and stock markets, shoring up a recovery in equities.
The U.S. Labor Department said job growth stateside surged in December, and revised employment for the prior two months sharply higher, suggesting that a recent manufacturing-led slowdown in economic growth would be temporary.
That lifted stocks, which had been flagging after an earlier recovery ran out of steam, while pushing the dollar up 1% versus other currencies such as the euro.
Spot gold plumbed a low of $1,093.53 U.S. following the data and was down 0.6% at $1,102.31 U.S. an ounce. U.S. gold futures for February delivery were down $5.50 an ounce at $1,102.50 U.S.
Moreover, silver hesitated 2.2% at $14.02 U.S. an ounce, while platinum was up 0.7% at $882.40 an ounce. Palladium was down 0.4% at $491.20 U.S. an ounce.
Palladium fell below $500 U.S. in more than five years on Thursday, reaching a low of $481.67 U.S., a level it hadn't seen since September 2010. The metal is set to end the week down 11%.
