2023.02.0308:38:00UTC+00Gold Steadies After Thursday's Selloff

Gold steadied on Friday after a steep sell-off in the previous session.

Spot gold edged up 0.1 percent to $1,914.78 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures were down 0.1 percent at $1,928.45.

The precious metal was headed for its first weekly decline since November after falling nearly 2 percent on Thursday.

A slew of data showed on Thursday that the U.S. labor market remains resilient despite higher borrowing costs.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve hiked rates by 25 basis points, as widely expected, but gave little indication it is nearing the end of its tightening cycle.

The European Central bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) hiked rates by 50 basis points (bps) each on Thursday and the cautious messaging from both suggested that the fight against inflation is far from over.

The dollar bounced back in early European trade after earnings from three of Silicon Valley's largest companies disappointed investors. Apple reported its worst holiday performance in four years and Amazon reported its least profitable holiday quarter since 2014 while Alphabet posted fourth-quarter revenue that fell below analysts' estimates.

On the data front, investors await U.S. jobs and service sector activity data later in the day for any clues into the health of the world's largest economy.

Economists expect U.S. employment to increase by 185,000 jobs in January after an increase of 223,000 jobs in December. The jobless rate is expected to inch up to 3.6 percent from 3.5 percent.