Gold intimidate to end 3-session rise, struggles to keep grip on $1,250

Gold prices lost ground on Wednesday, extending an early decline after a reading of private-sector employment came in stronger than expected.The private sector added 263,000 jobs in March, according to a report released Wednesday morning in New York from Automatic Data Processing Inc. ADP, +0.18% The employment reading outpaced economists’ average forecasts of 170,000, and highlighted a continued a pace of healthy labor-market growth.June gold GCM7, -0.56%  retreated $8.30, or 0.7%, to $1,249.80 an ounce, fighting to maintain its grip on a technical level of $1,250 and staring at its first decline out of the past four sessions.A strong reading on jobs can increase expectations for a faster pace of rate increases by the Federal Reserve, which would create headwinds for the commodity that doesn’t offer a yield.The ADP report is viewed as an early, albeit not always correlated, reading of the more closely watched nonfarms-payroll report due on Friday from the Labor Department.On Tuesday, gold flirted with trading above is 200-day moving average of $1,261.24 an ounce, viewed as a level that would point to growing upward momentum in the asset for technical analysts. However, gold’s failure to breach that level to some market participants suggests that the metal, which has enjoyed a softer dollar and lower interest rates, may come under pressure.“This is the third time that gold has failed at the critical resistance level and with the turn in dollar strength, the path of least resistance suggests a weaker tone,” said Peter Hug, global trading director at Kitco Metals Inc. in a Wednesday blog.Hug said the metal might find some support ahead of an important two-day meeting starting Thursday between President Donald Trump and his counterpart in China, Xi Jinping. Questions about trade between the countries and stability in North Korea, which conducted another missile test, are expected to be among the main topics of conversation.Political uncertainty can draw haven bidding in gold.Meanwhile, silver for May delivery SIK7, -0.21% was off 4 cents, or 0.2%, at $18.29 an ounce.In exchange-traded funds, SPDR Gold Trust GLD, -0.59%  was down 0.6%, the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF GDX, -1.02%  shed 0.9%, while the silver ETF, the iShares Silver Trust SLV, +0.52%  was little changed.