PRECIOUS-Gold races past $1,800/oz as bond yields, dollar slide

* Focus on Friday's U.S. monthly jobs report
* Gold hits $1,817.90/oz, a high since Feb. 16
* Silver jumps as much as 3.6%

(Adds comment, updates prices)
By Eileen Soreng
May 6 (Reuters) - Gold jumped over 1% on Thursday with a
weaker dollar and easing Treasury yields propelling it over the
key $1,800 psychological level.
Spot gold XAU= rose 1.6% to $1,814.50 per ounce by 2:00
p.m. EDT (1800 GMT). During the session it hit $1,817.90, its
highest since Feb. 16. U.S. gold futures GCv1 settled 1.8%
higher at $1,815.7.
"We really have yet to see a strong rebound in Treasury
yields," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.
Despite the economic optimism, Federal Reserve policymakers
seem unlikely to budge on their accommodative stance yet and
investor inflation fears should boost gold, Moya added.
The Fed plans to keep borrowing costs near 0% and maintain
monthly asset purchases worth $120 billion until it sees
"substantial further progress" towards full employment and its
2% flexible inflation target. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields US10YT=RR slipped. US/
The dollar index .DXY fell 0.4%, making gold more
attractive for those holding other currencies. USD/
At a time of heavy government stimulus, gold is considered a
hedge against potential inflation, but elevated Treasury yields
have dulled the non-yielding bullion's appeal this year.
"Gold is starting to move on rising inflationary
pressures... Gold could get to over $1,850 within the next
month," said ED&F Man Capital Markets analyst Edward Meir.
Gold's uptick also came despite data showing weekly jobless
claims dropped to a 13-month low. Focus now shifts to Friday's U.S. monthly jobs report, which
is expected to show non-farm payrolls increased by 978,000 last
month. Meanwhile, palladium XPD= fell 1% to $2,943.37 per ounce,
having scaled an all-time high of $3,017.18 on Tuesday on
strained supplies for the autocatalyst metal.
Silver XAG= climbed 3.2% to $27.34 per ounce, having
earlier hit its highest level in over two months at $27.45.
Platinum XPT= gained 2.1% to $1,250.74.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
gd1 https://tmsnrt.rs/3b60SP0
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>