Gold fell on Friday to hit its lowest in a week, with stock markets climbing and the dollar firming after upbeat US private sector job figures appeared to boost the prospects for an interest rate hike this month. Investors will be looking for further clues on the timing of rate rises in US non-farm payroll data due later in the day. Spot gold had dropped 0.3 percent to $1,262.10 per ounce by 0738 GMT. It earlier touched its weakest since May 26 at $1,258.60. Gold has fallen 0.4 percent for the week and could register its first weekly decline in four weeks.
US gold futures fell 0.5 percent to $1,264.40 an ounce. "A stronger dollar and firming US equity markets, along with weaker oil are all headwinds that could hamper gold's advance over the short-term," said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir. "But on the flip side, the fact that prices have not dropped significantly so far suggests that funds continue to buy the dips."