PRECIOUS-Gold eases from record high; all eyes on US jobs data

By Ishaan Arora

Sept 4 (Reuters) - Gold prices declined on Thursday, pulling back from a record high as investors locked in profits as attention shifted to U.S. jobs data for further insight into the Federal Reserve's policy path.

Spot gold XAU= was down 0.3% at $3,547.18 per ounce as of 1207 GMT, while U.S. gold futures GCcv1 for December delivery dipped 0.8% to $3,605.90.

On Wednesday, spot gold peaked at $3,578.50 amid rising bets for a Fed rate cut and lingering geopolitical and economic uncertainties.

"The market was way overbought and needed to correct," StoneX analyst Rhona O'Connell said.

The focus is now on weekly jobless claims and the ADP report due later in the day, and U.S. non-farm payrolls data due on Friday.

"If the jobless claims are way out of line, then we could see a reaction (in prices) – down if below, up if high," O'Connell said.

A Labor Department report showed on Wednesday that job openings fell more than expected to 7.181 million in July. Meanwhile, several Fed officials said labour market worries continue to animate their beliefs that rate cuts are imminent.

The market is now pricing in a 98% chance of a 25 basis-point rate cut this month, CME Group's FedWatch tool showed.

Non-yielding gold typically performs well in a low interest-rate environment and in times of uncertainty.

Questions about the Fed's independence will take centre stage on Thursday when President Donald Trump's economic advisor Stephen Miran testifies at a Senate Banking Committee hearing on his nomination to the U.S. central bank's seven-member governing board.

"Should private investors diversify more heavily into gold, we see potential upside to gold prices to well above our $4,000 mid-2026 baseline," Goldman Sachs said in a note on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, spot silver XAG= fell 0.6% to $40.95 per ounce, after hitting its highest since September 2011 on Wednesday. Platinum XPT= lost 1.9% to $1,394.40 and palladium XPD= shed 1% to $1,136.19.

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