US gold futures on Friday opened below fresh eight-week highs set in overnight trading, then extended losses as the dollar firmed on the back of a mixed October US employment report.
The sell-off did little to shake the bullish sentiment in gold, which has advanced more than 9 percent in the last 10 days. Platinum shook off the selling, adding another 2 percent to Thursday's 5 percent jump as traders talked about a short squeeze and mulled rumours that an investment vehicle based on platinum might be in the works.
At 9:24 am EST (1424 GMT), December gold at the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was down $4.30 at $623.50 an ounce, recovering from a bottom of $619.50. It opened floor trading a little on the negative side after rallying in overnight screen trading to $629.20, which marked its highest since September 7.
Traders saw an excuse to lock in more profits from gold's 9 percent rally over the last 10 days after the Labour Department said the unemployment rate fell to 4.4 percent last month, the lowest since May 2001.
They had been fixated on non-farm payrolls, which grew 92,000 last month. That was below the 125,000 jobs expected by economists polled by Reuters. December gold is up $53 since the breakout rally began from $576 on October 24. It has booked a $65 gain since setting a four month low on October 4 at $563.50, and technicians say that it has broken the downtrend in place since 26-year highs were reached above $750 in May.
Spot gold bullion was quoted at $622.80/3.80, off from the New York close at $623.90/4. Bullion dealers fixed London's afternoon spot reference price at $622.75 an ounce. NYMEX January platinum was up $28.60 at $1,192.80, the highest since September 11. It is up $107 since taking off on Wednesday. Spot platinum was priced at $1,188/1,193.
December palladium was $4.75 higher at $331.50 an ounce. Spot palladium fetched $327/331 an ounce. COMEX December silver was knocked down by gold, losing 12 cents to $12.53 an ounce, trading from a two-month high at $12.73 to $12.36. Spot silver fell to $12.46/52 from $12.53/60 and fixed at $12.62.
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