Svmuu News: Analyst Haresh Menghani noted that gold maintained a slight downward trend during the first half of the European session. However, ahead of the highly anticipated U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, investors opted to adopt a wait-and-see approach, and gold prices lacked strong bearish momentum.The key U.S. employment data will provide clues regarding the Federal Reserve’s (Federal Reserve) path for interest rate cuts, which will play a crucial role in influencing the short-term direction of the U.S. dollar and provide fresh momentum for gold. Amid risk-averse sentiment ahead of the key data release, the U.S. dollar extended its two-week-long upward trend and hit a one-month high, exerting some downward pressure on gold prices.However, growing market expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates further, coupled with ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, continue to provide support for gold as a safe-haven asset. This mixed fundamental backdrop has made traders reluctant to make new directional bets, resulting in lackluster price action and a range-bound trading pattern. (Jin Shi)