Gold futures moved between gains and losses Friday, as the higher-than-projected U.S. unemployment rate sparked safe-haven buying though falling crude oil limited the metal's gains. Gold for February delivery was last down 80 cents, or 0.1%, at $912.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The precious metal is set to fall more than 1% for the week. The Labor Department reported the U.S. unemployment rate hit 7.6% in January, the highest since 1982, as nonfarm payrolls shed 598,000 jobs, the largest amount in 34 years. Economists had expected an unemployment rate of 7.5%. About 3.6 million jobs have been lost since the recession began just over a year ago, with roughly half coming in the months following the September collapse of Lehman Brothers. See Economic Report. "The persistent increase in the unemployment rate would further boost gold," said Ashraf Laidi, chief market strategist at London-based CMC Markets. Meanwhile, crude oil tumbled more than 4% after the jobs data. Falling oil prices tend to push down gold prices, as weaker oil reduces the metal's appeal as a hedge against inflation. Destructive policies The Federal Reserve has cut its key interest rate to near zero in order to boost the economy, and the Bank of England lowered its benchmark rate to a record low of 1% on Thursday. "Gold continues to benefit from destructive monetary policies which are being pursued globally," said Peter Spina, chief investment analyst at GoldSeek.com. "As capital seeks to preserve its purchasing power, currencies once deemed more powerful than gold are now being questioned." Accordingly, gold's "returning as the king currency and its scarcity will propel prices significantly higher," he said, adding that gold prices could rise to as high as $1,200 this year, breaking its record high above $1,003 an ounce hit in March 2008. Gold prices have risen about 4% this year, compared to a 5% decline in the S&P 500 equity index and a 3% loss in the Reuters/Jefferies CRB commodities index. The February contract expires Feb. 20, with open interest, or the total amount of outstanding contracts, remaining at 351,400 ounces as of Thursday. Gold inventories held by Comex for future delivery stood at slightly more than 2.8 million ounces as of Thursday, according to the latest data from the exchange. In more active trading, the March gold contract was nearly flat at $913.30 an ounce. Reflecting the greenback's weakness in foreign-exchange trading, the dollar index , which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of its major rivals, fell 0.2% to 85.721. See Currencies. New record at SPDR Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust , the largest exchange-traded fund oriented toward gold, hit a new record of 867.19 tons on Thursday, according to the latest data from the fund. The total was almost 80 tons, or 10%, higher than that reported a month earlier. The SPDR Gold Trust slid 0.3% to $89.81. Rounding out Friday's metals action, March copper rose 5.4% to $1.58 a pound, while March silver added 1.5% to $12.935 an ounce. March palladium rose 6% to $214.35 an ounce, and the April contract for sister metal platinum gained 1.8% to $1,000 an ounce. In other equities, shares of Barrick Gold Corp. , the world's largest gold mining company, gained 0.6% to $38.79, while Goldcorp Inc. slid 0.9% to $29.91, and South Africa's Gold Fields Ltd. rose 0.9% to $10.98. The Amex Gold Bugs Index , which tracks the share prices of major gold companies, rose 0.3% to 301.55. The iShares Gold Trust ETF edged down 0.7% to $89.56, while the iShares Silver Trust ETF rose 0.6% to $12.83. The Market Vectors-Gold Miners ETF gained 0.2% to $34.78.

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