NEW YORK, Aug 6: US gold futures slipped on Friday as the dollar firmed against the euro following a stronger-than-expected US payrolls report. The US economy added 207,000 new jobs in July, above forecasts of 183,000, the Labour Department said. It also revised up the two previous months’ new-jobs figure by 42,000.

This figure is allowing the Fed to continue with its measured pace of rate hikes and that obviously will bolster the dollar a bit and put a little pressure on gold moving ahead, said one metals broker.

The unemployment rate held steady at the nearly 4-year low of 5 per cent reached in June, the Labour Department added.

Gold for December delivery fell 90 cents to finish the day at $442.80 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s COMEX division, below Thursday’s 5-week peak at $445. Trading on the day was held in a narrow $442.40-$444.80 band.

You can chalk today’s action up to the dollar mostly with little in the way of big business on a Friday. I think all the action was seen two days ago, said one dealer.

In afternoon trade in New York, the euro changed hands at $1.2332, compared with $1.2385 shortly before the US jobs data. A stronger US currency tends to make dollar-priced metals less attractive to non-US investors.

Looking ahead, analysts noted that the market was entering what may be a seasonally stronger period for gold ahead of the holiday season. Spot gold was seen at $437.60/ 8.30, slightly below Thursday’s close at $438.00/4 38.80.

A strike would lead to the loss of around 28,000 ounces of gold production and 79 million rand in revenue per day, a Deutsche Securities analyst said.

COMEX September silver dropped 9.4 cents at $7.158 an ounce, after dealing from $7.14 to $7.265. Spot silver hit $7.12/7.15, off from $7.21/7.24 late Thursday.

October delivery platinum ended down 10 cents at $910.50 an ounce. Spot platinum traded to $908/911.—Reuters