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Gold prices traded higher Friday morning, holding the bulk of their gains after U.S. jobs growth fell short of expectations.
November U.S. payrolls data showed a gain of 210,000 jobs, against expectations for a rise of 573,000 and a rise of 531,000 in October.
Aggressive tapering of asset purchases by the U.S. Federal Reserve “is out of the window, and that is the simple explanation of the data,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, in a market update. That contributed to the rise in gold prices.
The most active February gold contract
GCG22,
GC00,
was up 0.5%, or $8.50, to $1,771.20 an ounce after climbing to nearly $1,780 during the session. On Thursday, gold dropped 1.2% to finish at $1,762.70 an ounce on Comex, the lowest settlement for a most-active contract since Oct. 12, according to Dow Jones Market Data. For the week, gold prices based on the most-active contract traded 0.9% lower.
March silver
SIH22,
meanwhile, edged lower by 0.3% to $22.26 an ounce, poised for a weekly loss of around 3.5%, after the Institute for Supply Management’s services index reading showed a rise to a higher-than-expected 69.1% in November, from 66.7% in October.
Investors continue to watch for updates on the omicron variant that was brought to the world’s attention late last week by South African scientists, and which has triggered days of market turmoil. Gold has disappointed investors in recent days who were hoping the precious metal would draw haven bids and retake the psychologically important level of $1,800 an ounce.
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While Fed Chairman Jerome Powell revealed this week that the central bank believes it’s time to start tapering faster, which could mean faster interest-rate rises, omicron’s developments could make that tough if it starts to affect economies, said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, in a note to clients.
“Of course, there are multiple factors to watch at the minute as far as gold is concerned but the fact that the central bank’s hands are tied means bad news on the Omicron variant may not be as bullish for gold as it has in the past. Unless, of course, the central bank gives priority to the economy over inflation which would be a massive risk,” he said.
Among other metals traded on Comex, March copper
HGF22,
slipped 0.4% to $4.282 a pound, leading prices down by about 0.2% for the week.
January platinum
PLF22,
lost 0.1% to $932.30 an ounce, with prices trading 2.3% lower for the week, while March palladium
PAH22,
added 1.9% to $1,804.50 an ounce, on track for a weekly rise of more than 1%.
Read: Platinum, palladium buck an overall upward trend for commodities, poised for hefty 2021 losses
