Gold prices up, but heading for third weekly decline

Gold prices rose on Friday, with the dollar retreating from its recent peaks, but the precious metal heads its third consecutive weekly loss, amid expectations that the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) will stick to its hawkish stance in raising interest rates.

Spot gold transactions rose 0.4%, to trade at $1702.49 an ounce (an ounce) by 0801 GMT, but it remained down by about 2% since the beginning of the week.

US gold futures rose 0.3%to $ 1714.80

The dollar index fell 0.2%, but it is not far from its highest level in 20 years, which was recorded in the previous session, while investors await US employment data, which may affect interest rate expectations.

US non-farm payrolls data is due at 1230 GMT. The market expects the data to show an addition of 300,000 jobs in August, which may indicate the continued strength of the labor market and reinforce expectations that the Federal Reserve will choose to raise interest rates by 75 basis points this month.

Gold is seen as a hedge against inflation and economic uncertainty, but high interest rates increase the opportunity cost of holding it.

As for other precious metals, silver in spot transactions rose 0.5% to $ 17.94 an ounce, platinum increased 0.3 percent to $ 830.80, and palladium jumped 1.6 percent to $ 2045.47. Prices are also heading for the third consecutive weekly decline.