NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Gold prices were paring gains as the U.S. dollar rallied.
Gold for April delivery was falling $2.70 to $1,115.30 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have traded as high as $1,126.40 and as low as $1,111.70. The U.S. dollar index was rising 0.19% to $79.14.
Gold came under pressure after the Automatic Data Processing's National Employment Report said the private sector lost a better than expected 22,000 jobs in January. The ADP number is seen as a preview to Friday's nonfarm payroll report. Although analysts were anticipating a loss of 30,000 jobs, the job losses were still weighing on markets and curbing investors' risk appetite for commodities.
Also contributing to gold's selloff was light profit-taking. The precious metal managed to settle over the critical $1,100 level for two consecutive days leading investors to rake in gains. But for the short term, many analysts expect gold to continue to trade in opposition to the U.S. dollar.
"There's a reassessment going on about whether the dollar should be strengthening or weakening," says Nicholas Brooks, head of research and investment strategy for ETF Securities. "My own view is that the dollar is likely to strengthen in the near term ... [and] risk aversion will likely come back ... and that will likely put downward pressure on gold."
