Spot Gold heads for first loss in 4 weeks ahead of US NFP data

Spot Gold looked set to register its first weekly decline in four weeks and did not demonstrate any sizable movement on Friday, as investor focus now sets on the key US employment figures for October.

The yellow metal has retreated 0.91% so far this week, following a 1.27% gain in the previous week.

The commodity has again moved back below the $2,000 threshold, after scaling a 5 1/2-month peak of $2,009.56 per troy ounce on October 27th, as tensions in the Middle East escalated and underpinned safe haven demand.

“Gold prices have slipped back due to a reduction in the geopolitical risk premium as the markets get used to the idea of a long slog between Israel and Hamas,” Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“Money is coming out of gold and the U.S. dollar and moving back into risky assets.”

Investors will now be paying attention to the US Non-Farm Payrolls data due out at 12:30 GMT today. Employers in all sectors of the US economy, excluding farming, probably added 180,000 job positions in October, according to market consensus, following a job growth of 336,000 in September.

According to City Index senior analyst Matt Simpson, the Non-Farm Payrolls figures need to be surprisingly weak to mount more pressure on US Treasury yields and drive gold prices above the $2,000 level.

As of 12:05 GMT on Friday Spot Gold was edging up 0.10% to trade at $1,987.84 per troy ounce.

Gold Futures for delivery in December were inching up 0.06% on the day to trade at $1,994.70 per troy ounce.

Elsewhere, Silver Futures for delivery in December were edging down 0.46% to trade at $22.742 per troy ounce.

The US Dollar Index, which reflects the relative strength of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, was edging down 0.22% to 105.927 on Friday.