PRECIOUS-Gold notches best week in 6 months on U.S. jobs data miss

* U.S. jobs growth slows sharply in April amid labor
shortages
* Silver eyes best week in over three months
* Gold could make a run towards $1,857 level -analyst
* Physical demand wanes in India due to pandemic

(Updates prices)
By Arpan Varghese
May 7 (Reuters) - Gold jumped more than 1% en route to its
best week since November after an unexpected drop in U.S. jobs
growth in April hastened a retreat in the dollar and Treasury
yields.
Spot gold XAU= rose 0.84% to $1,830.41 per ounce by 2:03
p.m EDT (1803 GMT) and was up 3.5% so far this week, its best
since November 2020.
U.S. gold futures GCv1 settled up 0.9% at $1,831.30.
With the "complete miss on the (jobs) number," yields are
going to compress and the dollar also fell, allowing gold to
shoot up, said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist, Blue
Line Futures in Chicago.
But gold's rally may be short lived since next month's jobs
data could show a "blow out" number, Streible added.
April's nonfarm payrolls rose by only 266,000 jobs, with
employers likely frustrated by labor shortages as the economy
reopens. "This report at least temporarily throws some cold water on
notions the Federal Reserve may be forced to raise interest
rates much sooner than many expected," Kitco Metals senior
analyst Jim Wyckoff said in a note.
The dollar extended declines, while U.S. Treasury yields
also retreated, lowering the opportunity cost of holding
non-interest bearing bullion. USD/ US/
Gold could push towards $1,857, followed by the $1,925
resistance level, Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA,
said in a note.
On the physical front, demand fell in second-biggest
consumer India, amid a worsening pandemic. GOL/AS
"Lockdown in India does not help physical demand," StoneX
analyst Rhona O'Connell said.
"But all these fundamental physical flows, while they
contribute to inflexion points and corrections, are ultimately
dwarfed by professional money movements."
Palladium XPD= eased 0.7% to $2,925.15, having hitting an
all-time high of $3,017.18 earlier this week.
Silver XAG= rose 0.4% to $27.41 per ounce, set for a 5.8%
weekly gain. Platinum XPT= dipped 0.2% to $1,250.48.