Investing.com - Gold prices edged slightly higher in Asia on Friday with the focus on nonfarm payroll figures from the U.S. with the key indicator in Fed interest rate decision making particularly in the spotlight for chances of tipping a rate hike as early as the month.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 0.08% to $1,318.15 a troy ounce.
According to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, investors are pricing in a 24% chance of a rate hike by September.
Overnight, gold prices fell to a new two-month low for the second day in a row on Thursday, as investors looked ahead to data on U.S. nonfarm payrolls on Friday to see if the economy is strong enough to withstand a rate hike in the coming weeks.
The consensus forecast is that the data will show jobs growth of 180,000 in August, following an increase of 255,000 in the preceding month.
A strong nonfarm payrolls report would reinforce the view that a U.S. rate hike in September may be on the cards, after hawkish signals from senior Fed officials in recent days revived speculation of a near-term rate hike.
A day earlier, prices slipped $5.10, or 0.39%, after better-than-forecast private sector U.S. employment data added to speculation that the Federal Reserve is gearing up to hike interest rates at its September meeting.
The precious metal is sensitive to moves in U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion, while boosting the dollar in which it is priced.