1st LD Writethru: Gold up sharply on weak jobs data

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose sharply Monday as a weak U.S. jobs report released over the holiday weekend gave a large amount of support to the precious metal.

The most active gold contract for June delivery rose 17.7 U.S. dollars, or 1.47 percent, to settle at 1,218.60 dollars per ounce.

Gold was given a large amount of support as a report released over the holiday weekend by the U.S. Department of Labor showed payroll jobs adding a much-worse-than-expected 126,000 in March after increases of 264,000 in February and 201,000 in January. The two previous months were revised lower a combined 69,000.

Analysts say this report also lent credibility to the potential for a delay in the increase of the U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate. Although the U.S. central bank removed the word "patient" from their monthly statement, they indicated that they would wait for U.S. data to support an increase in the interest rate. However analysts believe that this poor jobs report will factor in to the Fed's decision on the exact timing of that rate increase.

Gold was put under a slight amount of pressure as U.S. equities and the U.S. dollar gained Monday. The dollar rose by 0.15 percent to 96.73 as of 1808 GMT. The index is a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies. Gold and the dollar typically move in opposite directions, which means if the dollar goes up, gold futures will fall as gold, measured by the dollar, becomes more expensive for investors.

Silver for May delivery rose 40.9 cents, or 2.45 percent, to close at 17.11 dollars per ounce. Platinum for July delivery added 25.9 dollars, or 2.24 percent, to close at 1,180.40 dollars per ounce. Endite