Gold prices turned higher Friday, rebounding from initial weakness in the wake of data showing much stronger-than-expected jobs growth in the U.S.
Gold for April delivery tacked on $2.70, or 0.2%, to $1,577.80 U.S. an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, after trading as high as $1,583.10 U.S. For the week, prices traded about 0.4% higher.
The precious metal finished the prior session with a minor gain of 20 cents and has been largely rangebound in recent days.
The U.S. economy added 236,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since Dec. 2008. Economists had expected the number of new jobs to rise by 160,000 and for the jobless rate to stay steady at 7.9%.
Also Friday, the dollar extended gains against other currencies after the jobs data. The dollar index , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, shot up to 82.729 versus 82.245 seen just ahead of the data.
Strength in the dollar often puts pressure on dollar-denominated commodities.
For now, silver futures followed gold higher, with May silver up 33 cents, or 1.1%, to $29.13 U.S. an ounce.
Copper for delivery in May lost one cent, or 0.3%, to $3.51 U.S. a pound.
April platinum rose 30 cents to $1,595.40 U.S. an ounce and June palladium climbed $10.45, or 1.4%, to $769.50 U.S. an ounce, as investors continued to fret about South African supply.
