Gold sheds more than 1% after strong US jobs data

Gold prices fell on Friday, after the release of a robust monthly jobs report in the US that pushed the stock market and dollar higher, and dented gold's safe-haven appeal.

The US Department of Labor revealed today that the economy has added 266K new jobs in November, higher than forecasts of 181K jobs, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.5% (50-year low) from 3.6%.

This came after the White House chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow said that the US and China are close to reaching a trade deal.

Otherwise, the dollar index rose against a basket of currencies by 0.3% to 97.7 points as of 19:15 GMT, with a high of 97.8 and a low of 97.3.

Gold futures for February delivery lost 1.2% or $18 to close at $1,465.10 an ounce, and posted a weekly loss of 0.6%, with an intraday high of $1,485.3 and a low of $1,463.3.