Investing.com - Gold prices dipped slightly lower on Friday with the U.S. jobs report in focus later in the day.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for December delivery traded down 0.13% to $1,112.30 a troy ounce. Silver futures for December delivery gained 0.03% to $14.515 a troy ounce.
Copper for December delivery rose 0.30% to $2.312 a pound.
China, the world's largest consumer of Copper, accounts for nearly 40% of the world's copper consumption. Markets in China were closed on Thursday due to the National Day holiday.
Reports said that powerful Hurricane Joaquin, which battered the Bahamas with torrential rain, powerful winds, is now seen as less likely to pose a major threat to the U.S. East Coast, citing the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
In Japan, the August unemployment rate ticked up to 3.4%, from an expected steady 3.3%, while household spending jumped 2.9%, compared to a gain of 0.4% on year in real terms, the first rise in three months.
As well, the BoJ's September corporate inflation outlook said firms see a rise of 1.2% in CPI in one year,and a 1.4% gain in three years.
Overnight, gold futures were relatively flat on Thursday amid mixed U.S. economic data, as investors await a key September jobs report on Friday for further indications on whether the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates over the next several months.
On Thursday morning, the U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims rose by 10,000 last week to 277,000. Although weekly jobless claims rose at a slightly higher rate than expected, they still remain near 15-year lows. The four-week average fell by 1,000 to 270,750, approximately 5,000 below its level from late-August.
When the Labor Department releases its September jobs report on Friday, it is expected to show that the economy added 203,000 non-farm payrolls last month, up from a subpar gain of 173,000 in August. After falling sharply to 5.1% in August, the unemployment rate is expected to hold steady in September. Average hourly earnings are expected to tick up by 0.2% after surging by 0.3% in August.
The U-6 unemployment rate, a broader gauge of the employment situation in the U.S., fell 0.1% in August to 10.3%. The rate, which is a preferred measure of unemployment by Fed chair Janet Yellen, tracks the number of workers marginally attached to the labor force as well as part-time workers. Marginally attached workers are defined as those who are not working or not looking for work, but have looked for work over the last 12 months. At the height of the financial crisis, the U-6 rate peaked at 17%.
In its September monetary policy statement, the Federal Open Market Committee indicated that it would like to see improvements in the labor market before it raises short-term interest rates. An interest rate hike is viewed as bearish for gold which struggles to compete against high-yield bearing assets.
Separately, the Institute for Supply Management said its index of National Factory Activity fell to 50.2 last month, below expectations for a reading of 50.5. Although any reading above 50 indicates expansion, the index fell to its lowest level since May, 2013. Markit's PMI Manufacturing Index, meanwhile, ticked up 0.1 to 53.1, above consensus estimates of a 53.0 reading.