PRECIOUS-Gold holds steady with focus on geopolitics and US jobs data

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Gold up about 16% so far in 2026

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Silver up over 28% this year

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ADP national employment report misses expectations

(Updates to reflect latest price move)

By Anmol Choubey

Feb 4 (Reuters) - Gold prices held steady after paring earlier gains on Wednesday, as attention remained on geopolitical developments and upcoming U.S. jobs data that could shape expectations ?for future interest rate moves.

Spot gold was nearly steady at $4,931.99 per ounce, as of 10:53 a.m. ET (1553 GMT) after rising ?as much as 3.1% earlier in the session. Prices rose 5.9% rise on Tuesday.

U.S. gold ?futures for April delivery rose 0.4% to $4,956.10 per ounce.

Prices are "consolidating ?the recent gains and ?we see resistance at $5,050 and $5,100,"said Bart Melek, global head of commodity strategy at TD Securities.

Bullion slid more than 13% on ?Friday and Monday, its steepest two-day sell-off in decades, ?after hitting a record high of $5,594.82 on January 29. The metal remains up over 16% so far this year.

Marex analyst Edward Meir, noted that gold ?could be at the start of a consolidation ?range, trading sideways ?rather than seeing sharp swings in coming weeks.

On the geopolitical front, Iran and the United States are set to hold talks in Oman on Friday, even as ?tensions remain elevated after the U.S. military said it shot down an Iranian drone approaching a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday.

U.S. private job growth undershot expectations, with ADP data showing just 22,000 jobs added in January versus forecasts of 48,000.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a spending bill on Tuesday, ending a partial shutdown that delayed key labour-market data, with no ?timeline ?yet for the nonfarm payrolls release. Investors currently expect at least two rate cuts in 2026.

Non-yielding bullion tends to perform better in low-interest-rate environments.

Goldman Sachs continues to see upside ?risk to its $5,400/oz gold forecast for December 2026, citing strong central bank buying and expected ETF inflows as the Fed cuts rates, with further private-sector demand a potential upside surprise.

Elsewhere, Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday in wide-ranging talks on geopolitics ahead of Trump's expected visit to China in April, hours after Xi's virtual meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, spot silver rose 3% to $87.65 an ?ounce on Wednesday. The white metal hit a month-low of $71.33 on Monday following a record high of $121.64 on Thursday last week, and up over 27% so far this year.

Spot platinum added 1.4% to $2,239.94 per ounce, while palladium gained 2.3% to $1,773.85. (Reporting ?by Anmol Choubey and Sarah Qureshi in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)