PRECIOUS-Gold falls 1% on Powell's remarks, improved risk appetite

* Gold down 0.7% so far this week
* Wall Street advances on Friday

(Recasts, adds comments, updates prices)
By Sethuraman N R and Asha Sistla
Sept 6 (Reuters) - Gold fell 1% on Friday as upbeat remarks
from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and improved risk
appetite offset a weaker-than-expected U.S. nonfarm payrolls
report, putting bullion on track for a second straight weekly
loss.
The U.S. Labor Department's monthly employment report showed
job growth slowed more than expected in August, with retail
hiring declining for a seventh month. Powell called the jobs report consistent with a quite strong
labor market, in remarks made at a panel discussion in Zurich,
adding that despite trade uncertainties he did not foresee or
expect a U.S. recession. "The sell-off in gold was mainly due to the slightly
optimistic tone Powell delivered throughout the session. He was
pointing out that the U.S. economy was still performing well.
Markets were expecting it (speech) to be slightly dovish," said
Edward Moya, senior market analyst with OANDA.
Spot gold XAU= was down 0.7% to $1,508 per ounce at 02:38
p.m. EDT (1838 GMT), after falling more than 1% earlier in the
session. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 settled down $10 at
$1,515.50.
"The overall longer-term outlook for gold, however, remains
strong and it's going to be slightly choppy going into the rate
decision in mid-September," Moya said.
"The main reason we are going to see gold remaining
supportive is the stimulus from the Fed and China's central bank
is going to keep coming. Investors are not expecting a 50 basis
point cut in the September Fed meeting, but they are expecting
the talks to be there."
Uncertainties around U.S.-China trade ties, fears of a
deceleration in global economic growth and negative Treasury
yields around the world were further supporting bullion,
analysts said.
However, a planned resumption of trade talks between
Washington and Beijing, and robust U.S. economic data on
Thursday did re-ignite some appetite for riskier assets, pushing
gold down more than 2% in the previous session. "One move lower like what we saw on Thursday is not going to
change the overall trend and what central banks are doing with
interest rates, which over time is going to push gold higher,"
said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.
Bullion has risen about 17.6% so far this year.
Silver XAG= was down 3% at $18.06 an ounce, following
Thursday's 4.8% slump.
"We attribute the fall in prices to profit-taking following
the steep price rises beforehand," Commerzbank analyst Daniel
Briesemann said in a note.
"We do not believe that this latest correction constitutes a
trend reversal but see it rather as (gold and silver) prices
taking a breather within an otherwise intact upward trend."
Platinum XPT= fell 1%, to $949.67, while palladium XPD=
fell 1.2% to $1,541.15.