Gold prices fell on Friday, deepening losses for the third straight day, and fell to a 9-month low once again, after falling below the $1,700 barrier, due to rising US 10-year Treasury bonds yield and ahead of key US data.

Gold prices fell 0.6% to the lowest since June 2020 at $1,687.37 an ounce, after opening at $1,697.42, and hit a day high at $1,700.41.

The yellow metal closed lower by 0.8% yesterday, and posted its second straight daily loss, after hitting a 9-month low below the $1,700 barrier.

Gold prices lost 2.7% so far  this week, to head for the third straight weekly loss, as investors focus on the US dollar.

The dollar index rose more than 0.4% today, to extend its rally for the third day in a row and hit a 4-month high of 92.01 points, which weighs down on dollar-denominated metals prices.

The greenback is being lifted by investors' risk aversion amid renewed concerns about the US bond market, after the new jump in US Treasury bonds yields.

The 10-year yields rose to 13-months highs at 1.583 amid expectations of the yields piercing 1.6% soon. 

Fed Chair Jerome Powell pointed to the recent bond selling pressures as noticeable, but they weren't disorganized, as he warned from inflation pressures in the US in the next period, however, Powell still doesn't expect rate hikes soon until economic recovery.  

Investors are anticipating the US jobs report for February, which provides insight on the economy's performance during the first quarter of 2021.

At 13:30 GMT, the US economy will reveal February's non-farm jobs report, amid forecasts of 197,000 new jobs vs. 49,000 jobs in January, the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 6.3%, and the average hourly earnings is expected to rise by 0.2%.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF fell 4.08 metric tonnes yesterday, with the total at the lowest level since May 6, 2020 at 1,078.30 metric tonnes.

European stocks fell on Friday, to head for the second straight loss, after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's remarks led to risk aversion, and after the US Treasury bond yields rose to a 13-month high.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.8% as of 09:25 GMT, after closing lower by 0.4% yesterday on profit-taking from a 2-week high at 416.7 points.

The travel and leisure sector saw the largest losses in Europe today, with a drop of more than 2.0%, amid a broad selloff wave in the sector's companies.

10-year yields rose to 13-months highs at 1.583 amid expectations of the yields piercing 1.6% soon. 

Fed Chair Jerome Powell pointed to the recent bond selling pressures as noticeable, but they weren't disorganized, as he warned from inflation pressures in the US in the next period, however, Powell still doesn't expect rate hikes soon until economic recovery.  

S&P 500 futures fell 0.5%, after the index closed lower by 1.3% yesterday at Wall Street in the third straight daily loss and hit a 4-week low at 3,723.34 points.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.9%, France's CAC 40 fell 1%, Germany DAX index fell 1.1%, and the UK's FTSE 100 fell 0.7%.

Euro fell in European trade against dollar for the third straight session, marking three-month lows and heading for the third weekly decline in a row as US treasury yields rally. 

EUR/USD fell 0.3% to 1.1935, the lowest since December, after closing yesterday down 0.8%. 

The euro is down 1.1% so far this week against the greenback, on track for the third weekly decline in a row. 

The dollar index rose 0.3% on Friday, the third profit in a row, marking a three-month peak at 91.90. 

Investors are buying up the greenback as a safe haven after a new surge in US treasury yields. 

10-year yields rose to 13-months highs at 1.583 amid expectations of the yields piercing 1.6% soon. 

The gains came even as Fed Chair Jerome Powell pointed to the recent bond selling pressures as noticeable, but they weren't disorganized, as he warned from inflation pressures in the US in the next period, however, Powell still doesn't expect rate hikes soon until economic recovery.  

The US dollar rose on Thursday, after the release of upbeat economic data, and boosted its gains ahead of the US monthly jobs report.

The US Department of Labor unveiled that the unemployment claims were at 745,000 last week, better than forecasts of 750,000.

The department will unveil the monthly jobs report tomorrow, which provides insight on the US labor market and the unemployment rate during February.

The yield of the US 10-year Treasury held at 1.47% today, after rising to a 1-year high of 1.6% last Friday

The dollar index rose against a basket of major currencies by 0.7% to 91.6 points as of 18:53 GMT, after hitting a high of 91.6 points and a low of 90.9 points.