Gold prices were stuck near the previous settlement in the US on Wednesday morning while investors remain on the sidelines of the market ahead of Friday’s US employment report.
Gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $2.0 or 0.2 percent to $1,088.70 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $1,083.80 to $1,091.70.
“Precious metals consolidate this week, awaiting fresh catalysts, albeit the downbeat mood lingers,” Joni Teves, an analyst at UBS, said. “Market participants are focusing on the US employment report due this Friday and price action over the last couple of days suggest overall reluctance to take significant positions ahead of the data release.”
The US is seen adding 220,000 jobs in July. The blockbuster data will be one of the last few major datapoints before the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets in September.
Expectations of an initial rate rise are growing after Atlanta Fed president Dennis Lockhart said yesterday that the economy would need to have a “significant deterioration” for him not to support a rate increase next month.
The comments from Lockhart boosted the dollar to four-months highs against the euro, with the greenback currently trading 0.2 percent softer at 1.0898.
ETF outflows have also continued for more than two weeks – holdings in the funds tracked by FastMarkets fell another 2.65 tonnes to 1,525 tonnes on Tuesday, the lowest since February 2009.
In a possible preview for Friday’s release, the ADP US non-farm employment change in July was 185,000, below forecasts of 216,000. The US trade deficit in June was $43.8 billion, above the $42.8 billion estimate.
Final services and ISM non-manufacturing PMIs are due from the US later today.
In other global economies, the Chinese Caixin services PMI outperformed at 53.8 and the EU final services PMI at 54 was slightly better than the expected 53.8. But EU retail sales at -0.6 percent missed the expected -0.1 percent.
Turning to equities, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC-40 were up 1.4 percent and 1.6 percent respectively.
As for other precious metals, Comex silver for September settlement rose 2.3 cents to $14.580 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $14.465 to $14.605.
Platinum for October delivery fell $2.80 to $955.70 per ounce while the most actively traded palladium contract was at $596.80, down $1.80.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)
The post Gold trading in tight range, dollar setlles near 4-mth high appeared first on The Bullion Desk.
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