Gold prices up B50 to B20,250

The Gold Traders Association this morning announced buying prices at 19,783.80 baht per baht-weight for gold ornaments and 20,150 baht per baht-weight for gold bar.

Selling prices were set at 20,750 baht per baht-weight for gold ornaments, and 20,250 baht per baht-weight for gold bar.

This means gold prices rose by 50 baht from Friday’s close.

Buying prices on Friday closed at 19,738.32 baht per baht-weight for gold ornaments and 20,100 baht per baht-weight for gold bar.

Selling prices closed at 20,700 baht per baht-weight for gold ornaments, and 20,200 baht per baht-weight for gold bar.

For international market, gold posts biggest weekly gain since June as wages trim Fed Bets, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Gold futures rose, capping the biggest weekly gain in more than seven months, as slower US wage growth eased concern that rising inflation will spur the Federal Reserve to move more aggressively in boosting interest rates.

The jobless rate rose to 4.8% and average hourly earnings grew 2.5% from January 2016, the weakest since August, a Labor Department report showed Friday in Washington. January’s 227,000 increase in payrolls followed a 157,000 rise in December. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 180,000 advance.

Bullion has rebounded in 2017 after the biggest quarterly drop in more than three years, helped by speculation that the Fed will be more cautious in raising interest rates amid uncertainty over the impact of President Donald Trump’s policies.

Traders see a 28% chance that policy makers will tighten monetary policy in March. That’s down from about 30% before the US data was released, Fed fund futures data showed.

“The market is convincing itself that wages aren’t going to become a problem,” Bart Melek, head of global commodity strategy at TD Securities in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. “There’s really not a big problem the US central bank needs to fix right now. The gold market is looking at this and saying there’s not a lot pressure to restrict policy at this point.”

Policy makers should be slow to raise interest rates to protect against downside risks to the US economy that might force them to reverse course, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said Friday in a speech. The central bank held rates steady after a two-day meeting this week.

Gold futures for April delivery added 0.1% to settle at $1,220.80 an ounce at 1.37pm on the Comex in New York. The metal climbed 2.5% this week, the biggest gain since June 10.