CHICAGO, June 7 -- Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped sharply Friday on better-than-expected data.

 

The most active gold contract for August delivery slumped 32.8 dollars, or 2.32 percent, to settle at 1,383 dollars per ounce.

 

The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that U.S. created 175,000 jobs in May, exceeding economists' forecasts of 164,000; and the unemployment rate rose slightly to 7.6 percent in May from 7.5 percent in April. Better-than-expected employment figures pushed up dollar and U.S. equities, dampening gold instead.

 

Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan's remarks in an interview with CNBC further aggravated gold's tumble, sending gold settlement price to the lowest level since May 28. He said the central bank should "get moving" on slowing down its bond-purchase program.

 

Silver for July delivery lost 96.4 cents, or 4.25 percent, to close at 21.743 dollars per ounce. Platinum for July delivery dropped 26.7 dollars, or 1.75 percent, to close at 1,502.6 dollars per ounce.