Gold tumbled Friday as employers shed far fewer jobs than expected last month, hurting demand for safe haven investments.

Most other commodities also fell following a gain in the dollar. The greenback rose as confidence in the economy grew and as investors wagered that the Federal Reserve is likely to boost interest rates from their record lows sooner than expected.

Analysts don’t expect any increase until well into next year, but even the notion of rising rates helped shore up the dollar, which has been sliding for most of this year.

The shift in expectations came after the Labor Department said the economy lost 11,000 jobs last month, the fewest since the recession began in December 2007 and far fewer than the loss of 130,000 jobs economists projected.

A rising dollar not only made commodities more expensive for foreign buyers but also eased worries that low interest rates will unleash massive inflation.

That hurt demand for gold, which investors buy as a way to protect themselves against drops in currencies and inflation.

[ Source Associated Press ]