The price of gold fell back on Wednesday, retreating from a three-week high hit in the previous session, after a rises in the dollar on the back of strong employment data. US private employers added 179,000 jobs in July, above economists' expectations, a report by a payrolls processor showed.
Spot gold fell 0.6 percent to $1,355.61 an ounce by 1433 GMT. It hit $1,367.33, its highest since July 11, on Tuesday.
"The NFP release on Friday can definitely lead to a price reaction in gold through the euro/dollar movements," Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann.
The ADP figures come ahead of the US Labor Department's more comprehensive non-farm payrolls report on Friday, which includes both public and private-sector employment.
"We expect the US economy remains on track for reasonable growth," Oxford Economics commodity director Daniel Smith said.
"Notwithstanding a really poor GDP print, there is a probability that non-farm payrolls will be very good and that brings back rate hikes back on the agenda and therefore the dollar will strengthen and gold will come off."
The dollar recovered from Tuesday's six-week low, up 0.4 percent against a basket of currencies after the data, making gold more expensive for foreign currency holders.
Gold had lately benefited from a weaker dollar after anaemic US economic growth in the second quarter undermined expectations of a near-term interest rate hike.
An increase in US interest rates would lift the opportunity cost of holding gold, which has surged about 28 percent this year on expectations the Fed would keep them unchanged.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.6 percent to 969.97 tonnes on Tuesday.
Among other precious metals, spot platinum fell 1 percent to $1,152.49 per ounce, after touching $1,177.40 in the previous session, its highest since April 2015.
Spot palladium dipped 1.1 percent to $708.10 an ounce, after rising to $722.90 on Tuesday, the highest since June 2015.
Spot silver dropped 1.3 percent to $20.35 per ounce, a day after hitting a four-week high of $20.78.
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