Investing.com - Gold prices edged slightly higher in Asia on Friday in light bargain-hunting trade.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, goldfor June delivery traded at $1,286.10 a troy ounce, up 0.12%, after hitting an overnight session high of $1,294.20 and up from a low of $1,281.90
Investors jumped into the safety of the dollar on Thursday to await the March jobs report on Friday, which sent gold prices falling.
Many are hoping the nonfarm payrolls data will shed light as to how U.S. recovery is unfolding and indicate how fast the Federal Reserve will unwind its bond-buying program that has supported the yellow metal since late 2012.
Elsewhere, the Labor Department reported earlier that the number of individuals filing for unemployment assistance last week increased by 10,000 to 326,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 310,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 7,000 to 317,000 last week.
Meanwhile, the Institute of Supply Management said its non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 53.1 in March from 51.6 in February, just slightly short of expectations for a reading of 53.5, though still an improvement nonetheless.
A separate report showed that the U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly widened to $42.3 billion in February from a deficit of $39.28 billion the previous month.
Analysts had expected the U.S. trade deficit to narrow to $38.5 billion.
Investors digested the data and determined the numbers still point to an economy that is improving, and only the pace of recovery remains up in the air.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for May delivery rose 0.12% and trading $19.828 a troy ounce, while copper for May delivery was up 0.28% and trading at $3.039 a pound.