Gold rose to a seven-week high on Monday, climbing for the second straight session after US jobs rose at the slowest pace in more than a year, fueling expectations the US Federal Reserve could postpone an anticipated rate increase.
"I think people are feeling comfortable being long gold after the payrolls data," said Yuichi Ikemizu, branch manager at Standard Bank in Tokyo.
Spot gold was up 0.6 percent at $1,217.66 an ounce at 2:08 pm EDT (1808 GMT), after rising 1.2 percent to the highest since February 17 at $1,224.10.
US gold for June delivery settled up $17.70, or 1.5 percent, at $1,218.60 an ounce.
A delay in the first US rate increase since 2006 would burnish gold's draw as a safe-haven asset.
Eli Tesfaye, senior market strategist for RJO Futures in Chicago, said market participants are now expecting a rate increase in September or later this year.
"The sentiment is changing so they're probably going to be forced to push interest rates further down the road if the numbers are not looking as good, so you get interest buyers coming in to push the market," Tesfaye said, noting short-covering.
Other precious metals rallied, with spot silver up 0.3 percent at $17.05 per ounce. Spot palladium jumped 3.8 percent to $768.50 an ounce and platinum climbed 1.7 percent to $1,175 an ounce after hitting a one-month high of $1,184.25 earlier.
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