Gold prices rose in early Asian transactions on Monday, after US jobs data last week overshadowed the strength of the labor market, which prompted investors to be more cautious about the path of raising US interest rates.
A jobs report released by the US Department of Labor on Friday revealed that the US economy added the lowest rate of jobs in two and a half years in June. But continued strong wage growth indicates that labor market conditions remain tight.
Higher interest rates undermine the attractiveness of non-interest-bearing gold.
Prices have fallen more than 7 percent since reaching near-record levels in early May as investors scaled back their expectations of an end to the US Federal Reserve’s rate hike cycle.
However, an Invesco survey of central banks and sovereign wealth funds published Monday showed that a growing number of countries are rebuilding gold reserves as protection against Western sanctions against Russia.
Friday’s data showed that Comex gold speculators increased their net long positions by 12,733 contracts to 99,205 contracts in the week ending July 3rd.
The world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings fell 0.3 percent on Friday.
The change in prices
By 0104 GMT, spot gold rose 0.1 percent to $1925.49 an ounce, and US gold futures fell 0.1 percent to $1931 an ounce.
As for other precious metals, silver increased in spot transactions by 0.1 percent, to $ 23.09 an ounce. Platinum rose 0.4% to $911.40 an ounce, and palladium rose 0.2% to $1,246.86 an ounce.
2023-07-10 04:32:25
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