Gold higher ahead of U.S. jobs report

Gold futures are looking to end the week in strong fashion and are trading higher in the early of Friday’s Asian session ahead of the February non-farm payroll report due out from the U.S. Labor Department later today.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery rose 0.21% to USD1,578.40 per troy ounce in Asian trading Friday. The yellow metal settled up 0.01% at USD1,575.10 a troy ounce in U.S. trading onThursday.

Gold futures were likely to test support USD1,566.80 a troy ounce, Wednesday's low, and resistance at USD1,1619.40, the high from Feb. 26.


Gold held steady despite news that the European Central Bank will leave interest rates unchanged at 0.75%. In other central bank news, the Bank of England disappointed markets by not announcing any changes to the size of its GBP375 billion asset-purchasing program.

Gold came under some selling pressure in the U.S. on Thursday as stocks continued moving higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average touched its third consecutive intraday record on the back of a strong economic data point.

In U.S. economic news, first time claims for unemployment benefits fell to 340,000 last week from 347,000 in the previous week. Economists expected last week’s reading to rise to 355,000. The reading is close to a five-year low. The less volatile four-week moving average also fell by 7,000 last week to 348,750.

On the jobs front, gold traders will now focus on the February NFP number due out later today. Economists expect the U.S., the world’s largest economy to show the addition of 160,000 new jobs last month. Analysts believe the February number will be somewhat hindered by fears of government spending cuts.

Elsewhere, Comex silver for May delivery rose 0.16% to USD28.855 per ounce while copper for May delivery added 0.19% to USD3.526 per ounce.

COURTESY : investing.com