Gold price edges higher, US data disappoints

Otmane El Rhazi from The Bullion Desk.

The gold price was slightly higher late on Thursday afternoon after the release of disappointing data from the world’s major economies today.

Spot gold was last at $1,189/1,190 per ounce, up $1.60 on Wednesday’s close. Trade has ranged from $1,184 to $1,192.2 so far.

In US data, unemployment claims at 295,000 were higher than the expected 288,000.

“US unemployment claims have risen for four straight months, indicating renewed weakness in the jobs sector. But the readings have been below the key 300,000 level for seven consecutive weeks, signalling a level of maintained strength,” FastMarkets analyst Tom Moore said.

“The conflicting nature of this data is likely to muddy the picture of the US economy,” he added.

The flash manufacturing PMI at 54.2 also missed the forecast of 55.6, as did new home sales at 481,000 – a reading of 514,000 had been expected.

In currencies, the dollar was last at around 1.0759 against the euro.

Earlier, the Chinese HSBC flash manufacturing PMI at 49.2 fell short of consensus at 49.5, while Japan slipped into a decline at 49.7 against expectations at 50.8.

Elsewhere, the French manufacturing PMI at 48.4 fell short of the 49.4 consensus, as did the services component at 50.8 compared with expectations of 52.5. The German PMI also disappointed at 51.9 against the forecast 53.1, with the services PMI at 54.4 against expectations of 55.6.

Overall eurozone growth pulled back from March’s 11-month high, reflecting the weaker rates of expansion in France and Germany. The overall manufacturing PMI at 51.9 was short of the 52.6 consensus, as was the services number at 53.7 against forecasts of 54.5.

Meanwhile, investors are keeping an eye on the developments in Europe – eurozone ministers are attending a summit today to discuss Greece’s possible default on its debt obligations.

“The situation in Greece continues to foster safe-haven demand – there is growing speculation about a near-term default given that there are two more IMF payments due in May totalling nearly one billion euros,” Moore said.

In the other metals, silver was largely unchanged at $15.78/15.83 per ounce. Platinum at $1,131/1,136 was up $3 and palladium at $761/766 increased $7.

(Additional reporting by Dalton Barker, editing by Mark Shaw)

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