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By Bloomberg

Gold held a decline after data on U.S. jobless claims showed an improving labor market ahead of the release of non-farm payroll figures for April, boosting speculation that interest rates will rise this year.

Bullion for immediate delivery traded at $1,183.29 an ounce at 11:47 a.m. in Singapore from $1,184.51 on Thursday, when prices fell 0.7 percent, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The metal remains 0.4 percent higher this week. Gold in Shanghai was little changed after dropping 0.8 percent on Thursday.

Prices declined 8.2 percent over the past year as the outlook for higher U.S. borrowing costs prompted investors to favor assets with better yield prospects. Fewer Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, dropping the average over the past month to the lowest in 15 years, according to a government report on Thursday. The monthly payrolls report on Friday is expected to show a pickup in the jobs market after a lower-than-forecast gain in March.

“The bullion market may seek out some firm economic data that it can hang its hat on,” James Steel, an analyst at HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., wrote in a note. “This could be the upcoming U.S. monthly jobs data.”

Employers hired 228,000 staff in April, according to the median of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. An expanding economy gives policy makers more room to raise rates, which curb gold’s appeal as it generally offers returns only through price gains.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was 0.1 percent higher at 1,167.1 after rising 0.4 percent on Thursday, rebounding from a three-month low. With the currency still down from a mid-April peak, the market may react more to a stronger than a weaker jobs number and, under that scenario, gold would likely have more downside than upside, according to HSBC’s Steel.

Gold for June delivery traded at $1,182 an ounce on the Comex in New York from $1,182.20. Bullion of 99.99 percent purity traded at 236.85 yuan a gram ($1,186.52 an ounce) on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, set for a 1.3 percent loss this week.

Silver for immediate delivery was 0.2 percent lower at $16.3018 an ounce, paring a second weekly rise. Platinum was at $1,131.54 an ounce from $1,131.80, little changed this week. Palladium lost 0.1 percent to $781.41 an ounce, paring a second weekly advance.