Gold holds in narrow range as spotlight shifts to US jobs data
Spot gold was down 0.3% at $3,345.79 an ounce by 0944 GMT. U.S. gold futures eased by 0.1% to $3,356.10.
"Gold is looking for new triggers," said WisdomTree commodities strategist Nitesh Shah.
"We had slightly weak ADP data that could potentially point to a little bit of weakness in underlying labour markets, which has been a little bit of a support for gold, but the non-farm payrolls could be a trigger point later."
Data released by ADP showed U.S. private payrolls dropped by 33,000 jobs in June, marking the first decline in more than two years.
The non-farm payrolls report due at 1230 GMT on Thursday is expected to show an addition of 110,000 jobs in June, down from 139,000 in May, according to a Reuters poll.
U.S. equities climbed to record highs after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. has struck a trade deal with Vietnam, including a 20% tariff on exports to the United States. He has also expressed optimism about a deal with India.
"More trade deals at lower tariffs could build some confidence that inflation will remain benign, thus allowing the Fed to ease monetary policy," ANZ analysts said in a note.
Non-yielding gold tends to perform well when interest rates are low and during times of political and financial uncertainty.
In other precious metals, spot silver rose 0.4% to $36.73 an ounce while platinum lost 4% to $1,361.40 and palladium retreated by 2.7% to $1,123.68.
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