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Gold edges higher after United States jobs report supports rate cut bets

Gold rates inched up on Friday after the November U.S. job development report suggested the labor market continues to reduce slowly, leaving room for the Federal Reserve to cut rate of interest again.

Spot gold gained 0.3% to $2,638.89 per ounce by 10:15 a.m. ET (1515 GMT). U.S. gold futures rose 0.5% to $ 2,660.70.

U.S. task growth surged in November, however this probably does not indicate a material shift in labor market conditions that continue to ease gradually and enables the Fed to cut interest rates again this month.

The data was somewhere in between. We see the nonfarm payroll greater than the forecast, which could be a little bit of a bearish belief on gold in the short-term, but the private payroll is somewhat listed below the forecast nearly by 9000, this reaffirms the prospective Fed cuts in the next couple of weeks, said Alex Ebkarian, chief running officer at Allegiance Gold.

The U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasuries yields fell after labour market report revealed nonfarm payrolls increased by 227,000 jobs last month after rising an upwardly revised 36,000 in October. Economists polled had anticipated payrolls speeding up by 200,000.

The possibility of rate cuts, beginning with the half basis point decrease in September, has actually underpinned gold's record rally this year, as lower rates increase the appeal of holding non-yielding gold.

Traders now see a 91% chance of a 25-basis-point cut at Fed's December meeting, versus a 72% possibility before the payrolls data.

This report falls mostly into the 'Goldilocks' camp, which implies the data was not too hot and not too cold. That recommends the Fed can go ahead and cut interest rates at its December conference, said Jim Wyckoff, a senior market analyst at Kitco Metals.

Area silver fell 0.7% to $31.13 per ounce, however was up for the week.

Platinum eased 0.6% to $932.30 and palladium included 0.2% to $965.00. Both metals are set for second straight weekly losses.

(source: Reuters)