Gold rose before the US jobs data

Gold prices rose on Friday as investors awaited the US non-farm payrolls data, which is expected to be released on Friday, to assess the possible path of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve (US central bank).

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

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

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned this week of a bigger and possibly faster rate hike to control soaring inflation.

And discourages raising interest rates to control rising inflation 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.