PRECIOUS-Gold heads for best week in 6 months on softer dollar, yields

* Gold gains nearly 3% this week
* U.S. April jobs data due at 8:30 am EST
* Silver eyes best week in three months
* Spot gold may test resistance at $1,830/oz - technicals

(Updates prices)
By Brijesh Patel
May 7 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose to a 2-1/2-month high on
Friday and were on track for their best week in six months,
boosted by a weaker dollar and a pullback in Treasury yields as
investors cautiously await U.S. non-farm payrolls report due
later in the day.
Spot gold XAU= was up 0.2% at $1,818.73 per ounce by 0652
GMT, after hitting its highest since Feb. 16 earlier in the
session. Bullion gained nearly 3% so far this week.
U.S. gold futures GCv1 rose 0.2% to $1,818.80.
"The weaker dollar and U.S. Treasury yields dropping below
1.6% has helped gold prices to go above $1,800," Brian Lan,
managing director at dealer GoldSilver Central said.
"The U.S. jobs data is very important point ... if data
comes out really good, we can see people being more positive on
the economy and it might lead to Federal Reserve increasing the
interest rates earlier than expected, which will impact gold."
The dollar index .DXY slipped to a one-week low against
its rival, while benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields
US10YT=RR hovered close to a two-week low. USD/ US/
Market participants await U.S. monthly jobs report due at
08:30 a.m. EST. Economists expect 978,000 new U.S. jobs for
April, according to a Reuters poll. Data on Thursday showed weekly U.S. jobless claims dropped
to a 13-month low. The economic outlook is brightening, but more improvements
are needed before the Fed will start to scale back monetary
support, Cleveland Fed Bank President Loretta Mester said.
Spot gold may test a resistance at $1,830 per ounce, a break
above could lead to a gain to $1,847, according to Reuters
technical analyst Wang Tao. TECH/C .
Elsewhere, palladium XPD= rose 0.6% to $2,963.43 per
ounce, after hitting an all-time high of $3,017.18 earlier this
week.
Silver XAG= eased 0.1% to $27.26 per ounce, though the
metal climbed more than 5% this week. Platinum XPT= slipped
0.5% to $1,246.79.

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