Gold futures moved higher to start the week as investors waded back into the water following Friday’s surprisingly robust US jobs report that pressured commodities through a stronger dollar and rekindled concerns that the US Federal Reserve could start tapering its monetary stimulus programme (QE3). Gold for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was last up $20.40, or 1.69 percent, at $1,233.10 an ounce. On Friday, the yellow-metal lost nearly $40 after the US jobs report beat forecasts. US non-farm employment for June came in at 195,000, well above the consensus projection of just 163,000, although the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.6 percent - it was forecast to fall 0.1 percentage points. Average monthly job gains of around 200,000 tend to reinforce the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) intention to reduce the pace of its quantitative easing purchases later this year, HSBC’s chief US economist Kevin Logan said. However, even if the FOMC decides to start tapering in the next few meetings, elevated unemployment and low inflation signals that tapering is unlikely to be quick, Logan added. The US Fed is currently committed to purchasing $85 billion in new debt per month until there is a sustainable recovery in the economy and the labour market. Accommodative measures from the US central bank are generally supportive of gold because extra liquidity tends to debase the dollar and create future inflationary risks. "Gold is in a technically-ideal range around which to form a base over the medium term, but we expect further downside from here, with the market looking to test the previous near-term low of $1,180, particularly if US data continues to surprise on the upside," ANZ research said. In metal specific data, China’s gold imports from Hong Kong climbed to 127 tonnes in May, up 67 percent year-on-year and slightly higher than 126 tonnes in April.