Physical gold flows are diverging sharply on either side of the Pacific. Retail investors in the United States are unloading bars and coins, while buyers in Asia continue to add to their holdings, according to commodity market reports issued this week. Dealers in India and China said foot traffic and trading volumes improved after bullion’s latest pull-back, with Indian discounts narrowing to as little as $7 an ounce and Shanghai quotes ranging from a $4.2 discount to a $12 premium. The opposing attitudes emerge against a backdrop of weakening prices. Spot gold was up 0.2% at about $3,299 an ounce early Friday but was still down 1.2% for the week, putting bullion on course for a third consecutive weekly decline. Analysts said the metal remains vulnerable to a deeper slide below $3,246 an ounce as the dollar trades near a two-month high and the Federal Reserve signals little appetite for near-term rate cuts. Later in the session, bullion briefly rebounded to roughly $3,340 an ounce after a softer-than-expected U.S. employment report and sizable downward revisions to prior payrolls. The move underscored gold’s sensitivity to U.S. macro data, yet traders noted that, barring a sustained shift in dollar and rate expectations, the metal is likely to stay within the $3,250-to-$3,450 range that has capped prices for much of the past two months.