Gold Holds Below Three-Month High as Payrolls Spur Rate Concern

03:25 PM @ Friday - 04 July, 2014
Gold held below a three-month high, trimming a fifth weekly rise, as investors assessed the outlook for higher U.S. borrowing costs after employment data beat estimates. Palladium traded near the highest price since 2001.

Bullion for immediate delivery was at $1,320.86 an ounce at 2:42 p.m. in Singapore from $1,319.53 yesterday, when prices dropped 0.6 percent, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The metal rose to $1,332.33 on July 1, the highest since March 24, and remains 0.4 percent higher this week.

Gold tumbled 28 percent last year on expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve would start paring back stimulus put in place to support the world’s largest economy. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index strengthened the most in a month yesterday after data showed that U.S. employers added 288,000 workers in June, pushing down the jobless rate to 6.1 percent, a level the Fed didn’t expect to see before the end of the year.

“The dollar’s strength, helped by the positive U.S. jobs data, is weighing on gold,” said Lv Jie, an analyst at Cinda Futures Co., a unit of one of four funds in China created to buy bad debt from banks. “The longer-term outlook for a continued improvement in the U.S. economy will keep gold under pressure.”

Gold for August delivery was at $1,322 an ounce on the Comex in New York from $1,320.60 yesterday, when prices fell as much as 1.6 percent to $1,310, the lowest in a week.

Palladium for immediate delivery rose 0.2 percent to $860.91 an ounce, heading for a third straight week of gains. The metal climbed for a ninth day yesterday to $865.50, the highest price since February 2001.

Spot silver rose 0.2 percent to $21.1848 an ounce. The metal, which is traded as a store of value and also used in industry, is on course for a fifth weekly advance that’s the longest run since April 2011.

Platinum was little changed at $1,499.88 an ounce, set for a third weekly increase after climbing to $1,519.38 on July 2, the highest level since Sept. 4.
LinkedInPinterest

OTHERS

More News