The gold price remained relatively flat during Asian trading hours on Friday on a lack of demand as China was away for holidays on September 3-5 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of World War II end.
The spot gold price was last at $1,124.5/1,124.8 per ounce, down $0.2 from Thursday’s close. Trading ranged from $1,123.5-1,126.8 so far.
Spot gold had hit its lowest in a week during UK trading session on Thursday after comments from European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi boosted the dollar against the euro.
Draghi had warned of negative inflation in the coming months while noting that the eurozone recovery has been weaker than estimated.
The central bank left its benchmark interest rate at 0.05 percent, a move that was widely expected, with eurozone inflation currently at 0.1 percent.
In data, the August services PMI figures from Europe on Thursday were mixed, although the eurozone reading of 54.4 was in line with forecasts. EU retail sales in July rose 0.4 percent, below the expected 0.6 percent.
In the US, weekly unemployment claims increased by 12,000 to 282,000 in the week ending August 29, which missed the forecast of 273,000.
All eyes remain on the US non-farm payrolls data that will be out later on Friday. This is expected to provide clues on whether growth in the US can sustain higher interest rates.
In equities, Asian stock markets were off to a rocky start on Friday morning after taking the lead from Wall Street last night. The Japan Nikkei 225-stock average index was down 0.68 percent, the South Korean Kospi index slipped 0.53 percent while the Singapore Straits Times index fell 0.64 percent so far in the morning.
In other precious metals, silver rose $0.07 to $14.75/14.80 per ounce. Platinum was up $3 to $1,003/1,013, while palladium increased $5 to $574/580 so far on Friday morning.
The Shanghai Futures Exchange is closed for the holidays with trading to resume on September 7.
The post Gold stays flat as demand wanes during China holiday appeared first on The Bullion Desk.
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