Forexpros – Gold futures traded down Friday, as positive nonfarm payroll anticipation strengthened the greenback pushing the precious metal and other dollar dominated commodities lower.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, Gold futures for June delivery traded at USD1630.75 a troy ounce giving back 0.25%.
It earlier traded at a session low USD1626.85 a troy ounce. Gold was likely to find support at USD1626.85 and resistance at USD1672.15.
All eyes are on the U.S. nonfarm payrolls set for later in the session.
Economists are projecting that U.S. employers added 160,000 jobs last month with the jobless rate holding at a three year low of 8.2%
Adding to the uncertainty, France and Greece will hold elections over the weekend.
French voters will decide on the final round of the countries presidential race and Greece will be voting on a new parliament.
Francois Hollande, the Socialist challenger for the French highest office, is the leading incumbent. He is calling for a re-negotiation of the budget pact with European leaders, saying it needs to place more of an emphasis on growth. He has rejected Sarkozy’s plan to increase sales taxes to fund lower payroll charges.
Meanwhile in Greece, neither of the two major political parties, New Democracy and Socialist Pasok is likely to win the majority.
In other news, physical demand remained subdued, as buyers in India were put off by a weaker rupee and high prices.
US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, rose 0.15% to trade at USD79.39.
Elsewhere on the Comex, Silver for July delivery fell 0.47% to trade at USD29.865 a troy ounce while Copper for July delivery gave back 0.11% to trade at USD3.732 a pound.
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