By Nick Godt, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures rose 1% Wednesday, gaining after a report showing a bigger-than-expected drop in U.S. private-sector jobs during August pressured equities and fueled demand for the precious metal among investors seeking a safe-haven asset. Gold for December delivery lately traded up $10.20, or 1%, at $966.70 an ounce in electronic trading. Among other metals, copper for December delivery fell 7 cents, or 2.3%, to $2.75 a pound. The gold contract rose slightly on Tuesday, as investors returned to the metal as a safe asset amid a sharp sell-off in stocks and other commodities. "With equity weakness still very much to the fore, a sustained push for that all important, psychological level of $1,000 an ounce and beyond on safe-haven demand seems likely in the coming weeks," analysts at GoldCore said in a note. Stock futures fell further after data based on a sampling of ADP-administered payrolls indicated that employment in the U.S. private sector fell by 298,000 in August. The drop suggests nonfarm payrolls may sink by more than the 250,000 anticipated by economists ahead of the government's much-anticipated report due out Friday morning. See full story. Further fueling gains for gold, the dollar lost some early steam, as currency traders turned to Japan's yen, another safe-haven, low-yielding currency. The dollar index (DXY 78.50, -0.26, -0.33%) , which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, recently stood at 78.675, down from 78.705 late Tuesday.

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