Gold prices up ahead of US jobs data

Gold prices rose today, Friday, as investors await the non-farm payrolls data in the United States, which is expected to be announced on Friday, to assess the possible path to raise interest rates by the Federal Reserve (the US central bank).

By 0716 GMT, spot gold rose 0.1 percent to $1832.24 an ounce, and US gold futures rose 0.1 percent to $1836.20 an ounce, according to Reuters.

However, the yellow metal lost 1.2 percent this week and is heading to incur losses for the fifth week in six weeks.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned this week of a larger and possibly faster interest rate hike to control high inflation.

Raising interest rates to control rising inflation discourages investments in gold, which does not yield a return

The dollar index is also heading towards weekly gains, which makes the precious metal more expensive for holders of other currencies.

As for other precious metals, silver fell in spot transactions by 0.2 percent, to $ 20.03 an ounce. Platinum fell 1.3 percent to $932.20 an ounce. Palladium fell 0.9 percent to $1,376.46 an ounce

The three metals are heading for weekly losses, with silver recording its worst week since mid-October.