Gold futures edged higher on Friday after recovering from earlier losses on a stronger dollar while posting a weekly loss of nearly $32 an ounce.

Gold for June delivery closed $7.10 higher at $858 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange after reaching an intraday high of $860.50.

On Thursday, June gold dropped $14.20, or 1.6 percent, to settle at $850.90 an ounce. The contract is down $31.70, or 3.6 percent, for the week.

The U.S. dollar jumped after a report showed that the U.S. labor market was not as weak as expected in April.

The Labor Department reported the nation lost 20,000 jobs in April, lower than analysts' prediction of a 75,000-job decline.

The government also said the nation's unemployment rate declined to 5 percent from 5.1 percent. Wall Street had been expecting the rate to increase to 5.2 percent.

The dollar index, a gauge of six major currencies including the euro, yen and U.K. pound, was last up 0.4 percent to 73.53 compared with 73.19 before the data.

We still see gold remaining under pressure in the short term, with a substantial break below $850 potentially triggering a move back to technical support located around $836.75, wrote James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com, in a note.

Also on the Nymex, July silver gained 26 cents to close at $16.47 an ounce Friday, while July platinum rose $25.90 to end $1,908.20 an ounce. June palladium gained $4.50 at $420 an ounce. July copper edged up 3 cents to close at $3.82 a pound.

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