Gold up

Reuters

Bengaluru

Gold snapped an eight-session losing streak early on Friday, edging up from four-month lows on bargain hunting, but was headed for its worst weekly dip in nearly a year on increased expectations of a U.S. rate rise by year end.

Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,256.36 an ounce by 0106 GMT, after falling for eight straight sessions.  The yellow metal touched a four-month low of $1,249.68 in the prior session.  Bullion was on track for its second weekly loss of nearly 5 percent, its weakest since November 2015. U.S. gold futures rose 0.5 percent to $1,258.90 an ounce.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to near a 43-year low, an indication of firmness in the labor market, adding support to a possible U.S. interest rate hike later this year.

The European Central Bank intends to push on with its aggressive stimulus policy of negative interest rates and massive bond buying until it is happy with the outlook for euro zone inflation.