The gold price was down slightly during Asian trading hours on Wednesday as market participants waited for the release of employment data from the US.
Spot gold was last at $1,138.7/1,139 per ounce, down $0.8 on Tuesday’s close. Trading ranged from $1,135.5-1,140.4 so far.
Spot gold had risen earlier during UK trading hours after weak PMI data from China on Tuesday sparked another sell-down in global equity markets.
“Gold was well bid from the start of yesterday’s session, with buying from China pushing prices quickly above $1,140,” said ANZ Research in a Wednesday morning note.
China’s official purchasing mangers’ index (PMI) released on Tuesday had showed a decline in the index to 49.7 in August – from 50.0 in the previous month. This signalled month-on-month contraction in China’s manufacturing sector.
The official non-manufacturing purchasing managers’ index on Tuesday also showed an easing Chinese services industry with the index falling to 53.4 in August from July’s reading of 53.9.
In equities, Chinese stock markets continued to sink on Wednesday morning. The Shanghai composite index slipped 1.44 percent to 3,121.098 so far on Wednesday.
In data, the US ADP non-farm employment change, factory orders and crude oil inventory figures are due for release later on Wednesday.
The key US official non-farm employment change will be out on Friday and a positive number is expected to increase the likelihood of a September rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
In other precious metals, silver was unchanged at $14.56/14.61 per ounce. Platinum was at $1,004/1,009, up $4, with palladium rising $2 to $572/577 so far on Wednesday morning.
On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, gold for December delivery was unmoved at 235.70 yuan per gram, while December silver was flat at 3,323 yuan per kilogram recently on Tuesday morning.
The post Gold treads water ahead of US employment data appeared first on The Bullion Desk.
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