Gold fell on Thursday as investors held back from making significant bets, awaiting U.S. payroll data later in the day for insight into the Federal Reserve's policy direction, APA reports citing Reuters.
Spot gold lost 0.3% to $3,348.10 per ounce as of 0412 GMT, while U.S. gold futures were steady at $3,359.10.
Gold appears to be consolidating at present within the $3,320 to $3,360 range, with the market adopting a wait-and-see approach ahead of U.S. non-farm payroll and ISM Services PMI data, rather than taking significant positions, OANDA senior market analyst Kelvin Wong said.
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, as economic uncertainty hampered hiring.
Meanwhile, low layoffs continued to anchor the labour market.
The non-farm payrolls report, due 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.
Meanwhile, the U.S. will impose a lower-than-promised 20% tariff on various goods from Vietnam, President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday. The Southeast Asian nation is the U.S.' tenth-largest trading partner.
"The Vietnam trade deal has likely already been priced into the market, and I think the primary concern now is the status of other deals with major economies that are still in limbo," Wong said.
The U.S. and India negotiators pushed to finalise a tariff-reducing deal ahead of Trump's July 9 deadline.
Trump has indicated no signs of extending the negotiation deadline despite stalled discussions with Japan, another key trade partner, but expressed optimism about an India deal.
Non-yielding gold tends to perform well during economic uncertainty and in a low-interest-rate environment.
Spot silver fell 0.5% to $36.40 per ounce, platinum lost 1.3% to $1,400.65 and palladium shed 1.1% to $1,142.
