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Gold extends rally to eight straight session

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Gold set for best week in 5 months

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Eyes on U.S. jobs data due at 1330 GMT

(Rewrites as of 1057 GMT)

By Sherin Elizabeth Varghese

March 7 (Reuters) - Gold prices hit record highs for a

fourth consecutive session on Friday on growing speculations

over June interest rate cuts ahead of key U.S. jobs data due

later in the day.

Spot gold rose 0.4% to $2,168.28 per ounce as of 1057

GMT, while U.S. gold futures added 0.5% to $2,175.50.

Gold reached a new all-time high of $2,170.99 earlier in the

session and has gained more than 4.1% so far this week, setting

it on track to post its biggest weekly percentage increase since

mid-October.

"I think a lot of the demand that we've seen coming from is

really in the paper market. It's just speculative demand," said

Michael Widmer, Bank of America's head of Metals Research.

"You always had good support from Chinese buying and central

bank buying. But that was never enough to take prices high."

Gold first surpassed its December peak on Tuesday, primarily

aided by growing indications of cooling price pressures and

bullion's traditional safe-haven cachet.

The focus today is on the critical U.S. non-farm payroll

data set to release at 1330 GMT, which will guide market

direction in the near term.

Low interest rates are gold supportive as they reduce the

opportunity cost of holding bullion.

The surge in gold prices could dampen consumption during the

wedding season in India, but top buyer China will see robust

safe-haven demand this year, analysts and traders said.

"I think an important metric for gold is the retail demand.

Retail investors are waiting for the first rate cut to come to

then take exposure of the market. If that happens, ETF demand

will show up," said Widmer, adding that he targets $2,400 per

ounce for gold this year.

Spot silver rose 0.9% to $24.53, while platinum

was up 0.1% to $920.25 per ounce, and palladium

gained 1.5% to $1,048.76. All were set for weekly gains.