Mubasher: Gold prices slid on Thursday following an uptick in stock markets, while investors awaited US non-farm payrolls report, which would give insight into the Federal Reserve’s direction towards rate cuts, Reuters reported.

By 8:39 am GMT, spot gold dropped by 0.42% to $1,412.89 per ounce, while US gold futures fell by 0.37% to $1,415.70 per ounce.

It is worth noting that gold was heading for its seventh weekly gain, mostly supported by global economic growth worries and a dovish stance among major central banks.

Amid a rising appetite for riskier assets, the yellow metal is going under a technical correction, despite a positive outlook, Geojit Financial Services commodity research head Hareesh V was quoted by the news agency.

Nevertheless, at a time when market participants were anticipating interest rate cuts, expectations that the European Central Bank’s (ECB) next chief would keep a dovish stance, came in line, Argonaut Securities analyst Helen Lau said.

European leaders nominated the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) head, Christine Lagarde, to succeed Mario Draghi, underpinning expectations of a looser monetary policy.

In the US, President Donald Trump nominated Christopher Waller and Judy Shelton to the Federal Reserve Board, both are seen proponents of lower interest rates.

Adding to the support of the precious metal was a drag on the US dollar caused by expectations of the Fed cutting the costs of borrowing and falling Treasury bond yields.

At 8:42 am GMT, the dollar index, which traces the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, ticked down by 0.02% to 96.75.

Investor focus turned to US non-farm payrolls data for last June due to release on Friday.

“Nothing short of an incredible number of jobs and wages over the forecast will be enough to dampen the Fed interest rate cut narrative that is keeping the yellow metal on the rise," a note by OANDA senior market analyst Alfonso Esparza was quoted by Reuters.