Gold futures strengthened Friday in volatile trading, as worries about possible North Korean nuclear tests and short covering helped the market snap back from early weakness.

December gold rose $1.30 to settle at $576.80 a troy ounce on New York Mercantile Exchange. December silver rose 10.5 cents to settle at $11.175 an ounce.

Around midmorning, gold was down by more than $10 on the day before bouncing back.

Gold had tumbled in early trading after the release of a report on U.S. non-farm payrolls. Non-farm jobs increased only 51,000 in September, well below the 125,000 increase anticipated by market participants. However, the August payroll gain was revised up to 188,000 from 128,000.

Gold's recovery came about on concerns about North Korea possibly detonating a nuclear device as soon as this weekend, said Leonard Kaplan, president of Prospector Asset Management. He added that trading was thin, with big orders hitting the floor. "That's why it moved quickly."

The U.N. Security Council reached agreement Friday on a presidential statement urging North Korea to cancel its planned nuclear test and return immediately to talks on scrapping its nuclear weapons program, Russia's U.N. ambassador said.

In other metals trading, January platinum fell $5.40 to close at $1,080.80 an ounce, while December palladium declined 90 cents to finish at $300.25 an ounce.

December copper rose 8.85 cents with help from technical buying to settle at $3.3885 per pound.