Gold futures dropped on Friday, then recovered as traders reacted to a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report for November, which raised expectations that the Federal Reserve may scale back its bond-buying program as soon as later this month.
Expectations that the Fed will soon taper the program put pressure on gold, but prices rebounded after dipping toward a five-month low.
Gold for February delivery traded at $1,232.50 U.S. an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 60 cents, or 0.1%. It had fallen roughly $15 U.S. in the minutes immediately following the jobs report then rebounded.
Prices were down about 1.4% for the week, according to FactSet data, tracking the most-active contracts.
The U.S. Labor Department said Friday the U.S. economy added 203,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 7% from 7.3%. Economists had expected a gain of 180,000 non-farm jobs and an unemployment rate of 7.2%.
Gold’s recovery from their daily lows in the wake of the jobs data "suggests the bears may be getting exhausted after their recent success in pushing prices lower," said one expert, who added. "It also suggests the tapering of U.S. monetary policy sooner rather than later is already factored into the marketplace."
Against this backdrop, March silver traded at $19.575 U.S. an ounce, up half a cent on Comex after a 1.3% loss in the previous session. Prices were poised for 2.3% weekly loss.
January platinum lost $6.20, or 0.5%, to $1,357.30 U.S. an ounce with prices trading around 0.8% lower for the week. Palladium for March delivery inched up by 45 cents to $737.50 U.S. an ounce, poised for a gain of 2.5% on the week.
March high-grade copper gained a penny to $3.24 U.S. a pound. It was up roughly 1.1% for the week.
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