Gold eased on Friday ahead of U.S. jobs data expected to boost confidence in the world`s largest economy and strengthen the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates after buoyant factory data the previous day.

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Bullion is highly sensitive to rising interest rates, which make the non-yielding asset less attractive while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.

Spot gold edged 0.1 percent lower to $1,169.66 an ounce by 1138 GMT. The metal fell to its lowest since Feb. 5 at $1,160.38 in the previous session and is on track for its fourth straight week of losses.

U.S. gold futures gained 0.2 percent to $1,171.60.

Capital Economics commodities economist Simona Gambarini said that a December rate rise has already been factored in to gold prices and that U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is uppermost in investors` minds.

"Most investors are now looking at 2017 to see what`s going to happen with Trump, what policies he will implement and the inflationary impact of those policies."

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, slipped by about 0.1 percent. 

"With a rate rise in a couple of weeks almost certain, the dollar will remain firm and gold will remain pressured, although we could see a bit of book squaring in the run up," said Marex Spectron`s head of precious metals, David Govett.

"This means some short-term dollar weakness, which may give gold a lift." 

Holdings of the world`s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, fell 1.54 percent to 870.22 tonnes on Thursday and fell more than 6 percent last month. 

Silver fell 1.2 percent to $16.31 an ounce while platinum dipped by 0.3 percent to $911.50.

Palladium shed 2 percent to $735.20, having touched its highest since June 2015 at $774.60 in the previous session, but remained set for a fifth straight weekly gain.

(Additional reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by David Goodman)