BULLION LATEST 03/11: Spot gold price dips; focus on US jobs report

The spot gold price was quoted at $1,276.55-1,276.90 per oz as of 03:56 GMT, down by $0.80 from the previous session’s close. Trade has ranged from $1,276.25-1,278.80 so far today.

• A steady dollar ahead of major US jobs data later today has kept gold prices in a tight range this morning.
• The dollar index was little changed at 94.69 as of 02:59 GMT – although this is up from 94.51 at around the same time on Thursday.
• “Gold prices had a wild ride [on Thursday] as investors dealt with a stronger dollar. President Trump’s new tax plan saw the dollar fall, with gold pushing near $1,285 per oz,” ANZ Research noted.
• “However, selling soon emerged and prices gave back all their gains. With plenty of leaks in the last week, investors reacted calmly to the news that [US] President Trump nominated [Jerome] Powell as the new [Federal Reserve] chair. Powell has been supportive of chair [Janet] Yellen’s strategy of gradual tightening,” it added.
• “Gold has continued to make a series of higher lows on a daily basis as it has remained bid in Asia this week, driven by Chinese retail buying; with the Shanghai Gold Exchange arbitrage clearly at attractive levels on this interest, this has ensured that the price action in gold remains constructive from a technical perspective,” Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA, said.
• Markets are now awaiting the release of US jobs data later today with a strong result expected to weigh on the yellow metal.
• “Gold’s fate into the next week will be decided by the US non-farm payroll data tonight with the street expecting a monster 315,000 increase; meeting expectations should see the dollar strengthen possibly nipping gold’s recovery in the bud; conversely, a significant miss to the downside should be supportive of gold as the dollar weakens,” Halley added.

Silver, PGMs

• In the other precious metals, the spot silver price was down $0.020 to $17.110-17.145 per oz. Platinum increased $2 to $923-928 per oz and palladium gained $4 to $998-1,003 per oz.
• On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, gold for December delivery was recently at 274 yuan ($41.39) per gram, and the December silver was at 3,880 yuan per kg.

Currency moves and data releases

• The dollar index was down 0.01% to 94.69 as of 02:59 GMT.
• In other commodities, the Brent crude oil price was down 0.13% to $60.80 per barrel, and the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price declined by 0.16% to $54.79 per barrel.
• In US data on Thursday, unemployment claims came in at 229,000, below the forecast of 235,000. The non-farm productivity quarter-over-quarter rose 3.0%, while unit labor cost was in line with expectations at 0.5%.
• In Chinese data released earlier, the October services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) exceeded market expectations with a print of 51.2, which was also well above September’s very marginal growth of 50.6. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while below contraction.
• The economic agenda is less busy today with the United Kingdom’s services PMI and US data that includes non-farm employment change, unemployment rate, trade balance, final services PMI, ISM non-manufacturing PMI and factory orders.
• In addition, US Federal Open Market Committee member Neel Kashkari is speaking.