Gold rebounds B50 to B18,150

Gold prices climbed 50 baht per baht-weight in Bangkok on Saturday.

The Gold Traders Association announced the buying price at 18,050 baht and the selling price at 18,150 baht per baht-weight for gold bars.

For ornaments, the buying and selling prices were 17,782.68 baht and 18,550 baht per baht-weight respectively.

On Friday, the prices were adjusted once, down 100 baht per-weight from Wednesday. The market was closed on Thursday for a holiday. 

In world markets, Bloomberg reported from New York gold gained for the first time in four days after a report showed wages and salaries in the US rose in the second quarter at the slowest pace on record, weakening the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

The 0.2% advance in pay was the smallest since records began in 1982, the Labor Department said on Friday. The dollar fell after the report, boosting demand for gold as an alternative asset.

Fed chair Janet Yellen and her colleagues are counting on rising wages to boost the economy and bring inflation closer to their 2% goal. Gold fell to a five-year low last week on speculation that improving US growth will lead policy makers to raise rates as early as September, curbing the appeal of gold because it doesn’t pay interest.

“The employment cost index was lower than expected, and it does not seem there is enough evidence for a September rate hike,” George Gero, a vice-president of global futures at RBC Capital Markets in New York, said. “That pushed the dollar down and gave gold some support.”

Gold futures for December delivery rose 0.6% to settle at $1,095.10 an ounce at 1.50pm on the Comex in New York, after falling as much as 0.9%.

Officials will tighten monetary policy when they see “some further improvement in the labor market,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement Wednesday. Investors fled gold in July as holdings in exchange-traded products backed by gold fell to the lowest since 2009, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Price slid 6.5% this month, the most in two years, on weakening Chinese demand and the prospect of higher US rates. The precious metal is down 7.5% for the year.

“The overall trend in the gold market is very bearish,” Mr Gero said.