The gold price was steady during the Asian trade on Friday as market shift their focus from Greek headlines towards tonight’s US nonfarm payroll numbers.
Spot gold was last at $1,265.8 per ounce, just up seven cents from its close on Thursday.
“Gold came under pressure initially as the market continued to digest the European Central Bank’s decision to stop accepting Greek sovereign bonds as collateral. The logic of weaker gold prices in this circumstance is that the ECB’s decision are a net negative for the euro as it raises the perceived risk that Greece could ultimately exit the Eurozone,” said analyst James Steel from HSBC Securities.
The ECB yesterday said it would no longer accept Greek bonds in return for funding. This means Greek banks will need to now tap deeper into the more expensive Emergency Liquidity Assistance(ELA), putting more pressure on Greece to reach an agreement with the European Union on its financial assistance program.
In wider markets, US equities rose more than a percent on average, with the three key stocks indices making gains between one and 1.2 percent overnight. The euro was last at 1.1466 against the dollar, falling four cents from where it ended on Thursday.
The main focus today will be the release of the non-farm payrolls report for January, which could be the catalyst for gold’s next move, analysts said.
The nonfarm employment change is forecast to come in at 236,000, lower than the previous month’s 252,000. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at 5.6 percent. The strength of the labour market will have some bearing on the economic performance of the US economy and lend guidance with regards to the timeline for the increase in interest rates.
Gold price movement is expected to be choppy and rangebound ahead of the key data release.
The other precious metals mostly followed gold’s rangebound movement – silver is just two cents lower at $17.24 per ounce. Platinum is unchanged at $1,249 while palladium is a dollar lower at $790.
The post Gold price to remain choppy ahead of US payroll numbers appeared first on The Bullion Desk.
No comments:
Post a Comment