Gold rises on upbeat US jobs data

Gold rises on upbeat US jobs data

Gold prices rose 50 baht to 18,950 baht per baht-weight in Bangkok on Saturday.

The Gold Traders Association announced the buying price at 18,850 baht and the selling price at 18,950 baht per baht-weight for bullion.

For ornaments, the buying and selling prices were 18,571 baht and 19,350 baht per baht-weight respectively.

The prices were adjusted three times on Friday, up 100 baht in total from the previous day.

Bloomberg reported from London on Saturday gold futures fell, snapping the biggest five-day rally in almost a year, as a buoyant US labour market and China’s moves to halt a rout in stocks cut demand for a haven.

Chinese authorities suspended a controversial circuit-breaker system, set a higher yuan reference rate and directed state-controlled funds to buy shares.

Gold extended declines after a report showed US payrolls rose more than expected in December, boosting the dollar and reducing demand for an alternative investment.

“Calmer markets in China and stabilisation in the yuan have resulted in gold longs taking profit,” Georgette Boele, an Amsterdam-based analyst at ABN Amro Bank NV, said.

Gold futures for delivery in February fell 0.9% to settle $1,097.90 an ounce at 1.59pm on the Comex in New York. Prices jumped 4.5% in the previous five sessions, the biggest increase since January last year. Bullion is up 3.6% this week.

The metal has outperformed other commodities this week as more than $4 trillion was erased from global equities. Investors bought the most through bullion-backed funds in almost three weeks on Thursday, lifting assets from the lowest since 2009. Holdings and prices dropped in the past three years as expectations of tighter US monetary policy cut the appeal of precious metals, which don’t pay interest, unlike competing assets.

US payrolls

The 292,000 gain in US payrolls exceeded the highest forecast in a Bloomberg survey and followed a 252,000 increase in November that was stronger than previously estimated, a Labor Department report showed Friday.

The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for a 200,000 advance. The jobless rate held at 5%, and wage growth rose less than forecast from a year earlier.

“It’s these blowout numbers that potentially accelerates the frequency of rate hikes and that puts pressure on the gold market,” Phil Streible, a senior market strategist at RJO Futures in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. “It’s widely expected that China will go back to the drawing board over the weekend to come up with a new strategy” to spur growth and reduce volatility in the market, he said.

Shares of gold miners fell. An index of 14 producers tracked by Bloomberg Intelligence slid for for the first time in six sessions. Harmony Gold Mining Co, the Randfontein, South Africa-based company, lost 4.6% in Johannesburg, cutting its weekly rally to 44%.

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