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Gold prices climbed on Friday to hit a fresh record high, as multiple factors including US interest rate cut bets, speculative buying and central bank purchases kept bullion's record rally active despite strong US job growth in March.

In the UAE the price of the 24K variant of the yellow metal jumped Dhs6.25 per gram to Dhs282.00 per gram on Saturday morning as compared to yesterday’s close of Dhs275.75 per gram.

The 22K rised to 261.25, 21K to Dhs252.75 and 18K to Dhs216.75 per gram.

Spot gold gained 1.5% to $2,324.15 per ounce, as of 2:03 p.m. EDT (1803 GMT), after hitting a record high of $2,330.06 earlier in the session. Bullion rose over 4% this week and logged a third straight weekly gain.

US gold futures settled 1.6% higher to $2,345.4.

There are too many capital inflows and everybody is chasing the market high, which is helping gold prices along with strong central bank purchases and speculative buying, said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures in Chicago.

Agencies