Singapore: Gold was steady after a three-day advance, as investors weighed the drop in employment at U.S. companies ahead of a key jobs report, along with simmering geopolitical tensions.
U.S. businesses’ payrolls fell last month by the most since the early days of the pandemic, due to the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant, according to ADP Research Institute data. That release came before Friday’s employment report from the Labor Department.
Meanwhile, the U.S. gave the green light to send a stronger military message of support for Ukraine in its standoff with Russia. Russia has denied it currently plans to invade.
The payroll decline helped to provide some underlying support for gold, according to Nicholas Frappell, global general manager at Sydney-based ABC Bullion. “The market feels as if it is near the upper side of the near-term trading range,” he said.
Bullion is holding above $1,800 an ounce as traders price in the prospects of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates in March, while volatility in equities and geopolitical tensions are providing support to the haven asset.
The rally in global stocks faltered Thursday following disappointing earnings from technology bellwethers and as traders await more clues on how quickly key central banks will tighten monetary policy.
Spot gold was little changed at $1,806.64 an ounce as of 1:07 p.m. in Singapore, after climbing 0.9% in the last three days. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1% after dropping 0.2% in the previous session. Silver declined, while platinum and palladium advanced. Markets in China remain closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.-Bloomberg
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Source: The Print
