People don't have a strong opinion

People don't have a strong opinion and the market is nothugely positioned one way or the other," said Afshan Nabavi,head of trading at MKS SA.

"Overall it feels like it's going to be like that until weget some kind of confirmation about the direction of interestrates."

Moves across financial markets were muted ahead of the U.S.jobs data. Employers are expected to have added 180,000 jobs inAugust, going by the median estimate of 91 economists polled byReuters. An upbeat payrolls report would reinforce the view that aU.S. rate rise is on the cards, with Fed officials havingsounded a hawkish note at a meeting last weekend, pressuringgold further. Gold is highly sensitive to rising U.S. interest rates,which increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yieldingbullion while boosting the dollar in which it is priced.

"A good jobs number could generate enough concern over anear-term rate rise to bolster the dollar and undercut gold,"HSBC said in a note.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largestgold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell for a third straightsession. Holdings dropped 0.57 percent to 937.89 tonnes onThursday. Asian physical gold demand improved slightly this week as acorrection in prices prompted consumers to buy for the upcomingfestival and wedding season, with discounts in India narrowingto their smallest in three months. Silver was almost unchanged at $18.82 an ounce.