09:11 AM EST, 12/06/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Gold traded higher early on Friday as the dollar fell after the United States added more new jobs than expected last month.

Gold for February delivery was last seen up US$5.80 to US$2,654.20 per ounce.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the country added 227,000 new jobs last month, above expectations for a rise of 214,000 according to Marketwatch and well higher than the unusually low rise of 36,000 jobs a month earlier. The unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from 4.1% in October.

The data shows the the U.S. labor market remains solid, easing pressure on the Federal Reserve to speed up interest-rate cuts. The central bank is still widely expected to lower rates by 25 basis points at the Dec. 18 policy committee meeting despite comments last month from Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggesting the Fed may slow the pace of cuts.

"While Powell didn't give a ringing endorsement of a December cut, the bar is high for a skip and would take some big data to really happen," Christopher Louney, a commodities strategist at RBC Capital Markets, noted.

The dollar eased following the jobs data, with the ICE dollar index last seen down 0.18 points to 105.53.

Treasury yields also fell, with the U.S. two-year note last seen paying 4.096%, down 5.4 basis points, while the yield on the 10-year note was down 2.5 points to 4.15%.