The U.S. economy added 528,000 jobs in July, following a job gain of 398,000 in June, coming far above forecasts of 250,000 added jobs. The report also showed that the unemployment rate dropped to 3.5% in July from 3.6% in June, while wage growth accelerated to 0.5% from a previous of 0.4%.

The news negatively affected gold prices as it eased recession concerns on the one hand and raised expectations of more aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve to tame the hottest inflation in 40 years.

Traders are currently pricing in a roughly 69% chance of the Fed hiking rates by 75 basis points at its September meeting, which would be the third straight 75-basis-point rate increase.

Following the release of the U.S. NFP figures, gold slipped from one-month high, but managed to lock its third consecutive weekly gain.