Gold eked out some gains on Friday morning, with support at $1,150 holding for now as the dollar’s advance was temporarily halted.
The spot gold price was last holding steady at $1,156.00/1,156.80 per ounce, up $2.50 on Thursday’s close and having flirted with four-month lows at $1,148.70 in the previous session.
Still, heavy downside pressure from a dollar, which is moving parity against the euro, is holding back any significant gains – the US currency was last at 1.0604 ahead of macroeconomic developments, having hit its highest since March 2003 in the previous session.
“It feels like we will need a string of unfavourable data prints out of the US to stop the roaring dollar and hence provide support for gold,” MKS’ Alex Thorndike said in a note.
Weekly US unemployment claims data at 289,000 beat the forecast 306,000 and was the lowest reading in three weeks, consistent with suggestions of an improving labour market.
US PPI data and the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment report are due later; positive readings could strengthen dollar and see gold testing four-month lows again.
But the calendar gets busier next week, with the Federal Reserve’s monthly policy statement likely to affect markets should there be any indications of a move towards higher interest rates in the near term.
Earlier, the German WPI at 0.5 percent beat the expected -0.2 percent.
Once again physical demand out of China this morning was reportedly unimpressive, with demand continuing to fade despite the cheaper price, which many believe suggests buyers are holding off in anticipation of further downside in the near term.
“For now, physical demand is still about – but it is slowing, with turnover through the SGE gradually coming lower since Chinese New Year,” MKS’ Thorndike added.
In other metals, silver was trading just above three-month lows at $15.54/15.59 per ounce, down one cent, while platinum at $1,119/1,124 was off six-year lows and up $6 and palladium climbed $5 to $792/797.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)
The post Gold price steadies just above $1,150 but dollar moves eyed appeared first on The Bullion Desk.
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