Daily Gold Update

Source: MarketWatch

New York— Gold futures fell Friday, extending weekly losses to 3%, after a less-grim-than-feared March jobs report sustained optimism over a global economic recovery, which has curbed demand for safe assets. The U.S. economy lost 663,000 jobs in March, fewer than the 688,000 that analysts surveyed by MarketWatch had expected. The unemployment rate rose to 8.5%, in line with expectations. Gold for April delivery fell $11.80, or 1.3%, to end at $895.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell to as low as $894.70 earlier. The more active June contract fell 1.3% to close at $897.30.

Though the monthly job headline number was better than expected, total job losses were still ugly. The U.S. economy lost 5.1 million jobs since the recession began. January's revised job loss of 741,000 was the worst since 1949. In February, 651,000 jobs were lost. Gold's decline on Friday came after its losses in the previous session. The metal fell 2% Thursday amid optimism that G20 steps to support the global economy would succeed. See full story.