Reuters
Melbourne
Spot gold edged lower on Monday, but remained supported in the face of a firm dollar as investors bet a weaker U.S. payroll report would push out the timing of any rate hike.
The U.S. economy added the fewest number of jobs in seven months in April and Americans dropped out of the labour force, leaving some economists anticipating only one interest rate hike this year.
But encouraging annual wage growth data helped the dollar to revive. "Gold held on to a lot of the gains despite the strengthening dollar - it seems to be well supported," said analyst Daniel Hynes at ANZ in Sydney.
"Investors certainly saw the payroll numbers being a positive in terms of no rate hike in the shorter term, which lessened the blow of that stronger currency," he added.
Spot gold eased 0.2 percent to $1,286.11 an ounce by 0145 GMT, after hitting a five-month high last week, and is consolidating within a $1,268-$1,303 trading band.
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