• Gold fell to a one-week low on Friday as consensus-beating U.S. economic data pushed the dollar higher, outweighing the impact of a lackluster jobs report.
• The greenback gained on a strong reading of U.S. factory orders and the services sector, reversing earlier losses after an underwhelming October jobs report.
• Spot gold fell 0.6 percent to $1,267.95 an ounce by 2:26 p.m. EDT (1826 GMT), and was on track for third straight weekly decline. It hit its lowest level since Oct. 27 at $1,265.16.
U.S. gold for December delivery settled down 0.7 percent at $1,269.20.
• "The data was in a conflicting sequence but it is overall making the case for not just one further rate hike by the Fed in December but also for further, gradual increasing of rates in 2018," said Quantitative Commodity Research consultant Peter Fertig.
"The outlook for the interest side remains towards a stronger U.S. dollar so there are headwinds for gold."
• The interest rate outlook for the coming year is largely unchanged by President Donald Trump's appointment of Jeremy Powell as Fed chairman as analysts said it signaled a continuation of Janet Yellen's cautious monetary policies.
• "This morning's weak jobs numbers should have been a boost to gold prices typically because the thought would be that maybe the Fed would change direction away from raising interest rates speedily," said Miguel Perez-Santalla, vice president of Heraeus Metal Management in New York.
"However, with the selection of Jerome Powell as the next Fed chairman that thought has quickly been discarded. This explains why, with this poor news, gold is still backing away like a scared dog."
• World stock markets edged higher, buoyed by the U.S. economic data.
• "I still remain cautious on gold until and unless it moves back above $1,300 again," said Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst for Forex.com.
"There is still the potential for a drop to the support trend of its bullish channel around the $1,255 area before it decides on its next move."
• Meanwhile in Asia, demand for physical gold was lackluster this week in top consumers India and China, while the lure of the metal remained stable in Singapore, but India's peak wedding season is expected to usher in renewed interest for bullion in coming weeks.
• In other precious metals, spot silver fell 1.7 percent to $16.78 an ounce and platinum eased 0.6 percent to $919, while palladium turned up 0.2 percent to $998.10.
Reference: Reuters