Gold holds above $1,300/oz amid wait for US payrolls data

The spot gold price stayed above $1,300/oz during Asian trading hours on Friday November 4 as investors awaited the US non-farm employment report due later today.

The spot gold price was recently quoted at $1,300.60/1,300.75 per oz, down $1.45 on the previous close. Trade has ranged from $1,300.25 to $1,304.40 so far.

Expectations are for the US jobs report tonight to show the country adding some 174,000 new jobs in October, up from 156,000 in September.

“The focus [now] shifts to payrolls and whether that would shift the pricing towards a Fed rate hike in December, on economy grounds. Most aspects of the payrolls report will be factored into market thinking and then the focus re-sets on the presidential election into the last few days of the campaign,” National Australia Bank said on Friday.

The US dollar continues to stay soft ahead of uncertainties pending the outcome of the US elections particularly after recent polls showed Donald Trump gaining on Hillary Clinton. The US dollar index fell to a three-week low of 97.04 on Thursday, and was recently at 97.24 on Friday, down 0.04% from its previous close.

“We remain constructive [on gold] over the very short term, principally because US political risks are elevated, which could produce a very supportive macro environment for gold,” Metal Bulletin analyst, Boris Mikanikrezai, said.

In US data released Thursday, weekly unemployment claims during October 20-27 came in at 265,000, above the forecast of 257,000, but under the psychological 300,000 mark. Challenger job cuts year-over-year in October hit -39.1%, improving over the previous figure of -24.7%.

Preliminary non-farm productivity quarter-over-quarter during the third quarter roundly exceeded expectations at 3.1%, with analysts predicting a 1.7% increase. Labour costs over the same period ticked up 0.3%, missing economic consensus of 1.6%.

US final services PMI for October was in-line with projections at 54.8. ISM non-manufacturing PMI in October missed at 54.8 – 56.2 was called for.

Lastly, factory orders month-over-month in September bested analyst expectations at a 0.3% gain, while only 0.2% was expected.

In other commodities, the Brent crude oil spot price rose 0.41% to $46.46 per barrel, and the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price increased 0.07% to $44.76 so far on Friday.

In equities, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.21% to 3,135.56 recently on Friday.

In the other precious metals, the spot silver price fell $0.040 to $18.305/18.325 per oz. Platinum at $994/1,000 per oz was up $3 and palladium climbed $7 to $618/626 per oz.

(Additional reporting by Dalton Barker)

The post Gold holds above $1,300/oz amid wait for US payrolls data appeared first on The Bullion Desk.

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