LONDON: Gold held onto the previous session’s 2 per cent gains on Friday as strong underlying investment demand helped prices rebound from a sharp drop in the wake of forecast-beating US payrolls data.

Earlier gold hit its highest in 13 months, having been driven up nearly 20pc this year by economic concerns, which sparked volatility in equities and oil prices and boosted gold’s appeal as a haven.

Holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares, rose nearly 5 tonnes on Thursday, data from the fund showed, bringing its inflow for the year to 151 tonnes, versus 52 tonnes in the same period of 2015.

Silver was up 1.1pc at $15.39 an ounce, platinum 1.2pc at $957.74 an ounce and palladium 1.7pc at $549.00.