Gold falls below $1,700 mark ahead of US jobs data

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.