US unemployment rate climbs to 4.1
PBOC refrains from gold purchases for a second month
Fed Powell testimony, US inflation data due this week

July 8 Reuters Gold prices slipped on Monday, as investors booked profits after bullion hit a more than onemonth high in the previous session on rising bets of U.S. interest rate cuts in September.

Spot gold fell 0.6 at 2,377.75 per ounce as of 0704 GMT, after rising to its highest level since May 22 on Friday. U.S. gold futures eased 0.5 to 2,385.50.

Data on Friday showed that the unemployment rate hit a 212year high of 4.1, pointing to a softer U.S. labour market.

We39;re getting a little bit of profit taken this morning because we had such a significant rally on Friday night after the payrolls data, said Kyle Rodda, a financial market analyst at Capital.com.

Markets are expecting a 78 chance of a September rate by the Federal Reserve, according to CME39;s Fedwatch Tool. Traders are also pricing in a rising chance of a second rate cut in December.

Lower rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding nonyielding bullion.

Market focus this week is on Fed Chair Jerome Powell39;s semiannual Congressional testimony, comments from a series of Fed officials, and U.S. inflation data.

A soft U.S. inflation report and a dovish tone from Powell when he testifies look like the ideal catalysts for gold to consider new highs, said Matt Simpson, a senior analyst at City Index.

Elsewhere, top consumer China39;s central bank refrained…