Investing.com - Gold prices extended gains from the previous session on Monday to hit a four-week high as traders reassessed their expectations for how quickly the Federal Reserve will roll back its stimulus program following Friday’s weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for February delivery traded at USD1,248.10 a troy ounce during European morning trade, up 0.1%. Gold prices rose to a session high of USD1,254.00 a troy ounce earlier, the strongest level since December 12. The February contract settled 1.42% higher on Friday to end at USD1,246.90 a troy ounce. Futures were likely to find support at USD1,226.60 a troy ounce, the low from January 10 and resistance at USD1,256.50, the high from December 12. Meanwhile, silver for March delivery inched down 0.5% to trade at USD20.11 a troy ounce. Comex silver prices turned lower after hitting a session high of USD20.35 a troy ounce, the strongest since December 11. The March contract ended Friday’s session with a gain of 2.74% to settle at USD20.22 a troy ounce. The U.S. economy added just 74,000 jobs in December, the Labor Department said, the smallest increase since January 2011 and well below expectations for 196,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate fell to a five-year low of 6.7% last month from 7% in November, but this was due in part to people dropping out of the labor force. The labor participation rate fell to an almost 35-year low of 62.8%. The dismal data cooled expectations that the Fed would cut its stimulus program again this month. The central bank cited a stronger labor market in its decision to taper its asset purchase program by USD10 billion in December to USD75 billion-a-month. Minutes of the Fed’s December meeting released last week showed that officials were keen to stress that further reductions in stimulus were not on a “preset course� and would be undertaken in “measured� steps. The central bank is scheduled to meet January 28-29 to review the economy and assess policy. Expectations of monetary stimulus tend to benefit gold, as the precious metal is seen as a safe store of value and inflation hedge. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, declined 0.11% to trade at 80.65, the lowest since January 2. Dollar weakness usually benefits gold, as it boosts the metal's appeal as an alternative asset and makes dollar-priced commodities cheaper for holders of other currencies. The CFTC Commitments of Traders report for the week ending January 7 showed that speculators boosted their net long gold positions by 2,062 contracts to 139,244, while reducing net short positions by 4,602 contracts to 100,357. Elsewhere on the Comex, copper futures for March delivery were little changed to trade at USD3.342 a pound.

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