Gold halted a four-day rally on Thursday, falling more than 1% as investors digested mixed economic data from the United States.
At 9.40am, gold was at $2,691.06, up 0.39% since it opened early Friday in Asian trading.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) beat forecasts, suggesting that the disinflation process may have stalled.
In line with that, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that the labor market is becoming more stubborn as the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits exceeded estimates.
Gold fell on speculation that investors are looking for profit opportunities ahead of the Fed's FOMC meeting decision next week.
Meanwhile, the market is increasingly confident that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points at the next meeting, as high as 98% to a range of 4.25% to 4.50%.
Recently, the European Central Bank (ECB) lowered interest rates for the third consecutive meeting hinting that further easing is coming as inflation continues to decline towards its 2% goal.
