Gold stabilized on Thursday, hovering near its all-time high recorded in the previous session, supported by global uncertainty and rising expectations of a US interest rate cut, as traders await key US jobs data due this week.

By 00:59 GMT, spot gold was steady at $3561.97 per ounce. The precious metal hit a record high of $3578.50 on Wednesday.

US December gold futures fell 0.4% to $3619.40.

The US Labor Department said on Wednesday that job openings, a measure of labor market demand, fell more than expected to 7.181 million in July.

Several Federal Reserve officials said concerns about the labor market continue to strengthen their belief that a rate cut is near. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said he believes the central bank should cut rates at its next meeting.

According to the CME FedWatch tool, traders currently see a 97% chance of a 25 basis point rate cut this month, up from 92% before the data release.

Attention now turns to the US nonfarm payrolls data due Friday, with expectations for growth of 78,000 jobs in August, according to a survey, compared to 73,000 in July.

For other precious metals, silver was unchanged at $41.19 per ounce in spot trading. Platinum rose 0.2% to $1423.63 while palladium fell 0.6% to $1140.50.