Gold firms ahead of jobs data but eyes worst week this year

Gold edged higher yesterday ahead of US nonfarm payrolls data but remained on track to slide nearly 5 percent this week after a jump in the dollar pushed it through major price chart levels. A crash in the pound sent gold priced in sterling to a three-month high.

Spot gold was at $1,255.91 an ounce at 1135 GMT, up 0.1 percent, while US gold futures for December delivery were up $5.30 at $1,258.30. Gold has fallen for the last eight sessions, hitting its lowest since early June on Thursday. The dollar index posted its biggest weekly rise since November this week after upbeat US jobs and manufacturing data reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve would lift interest rates this year.

That pressured gold, and its downward move accelerated as it slipped through $1,300 an ounce, which has underpinned prices since Britain’s vote to leave the European Union in June. “The stabilization we see now is because players don’t want to push it further ahead of the US employment report,” Georgette Boele, an analyst at ABN Amro, told the Reuters Global Gold Forum. “If it comes in strong and Fed speakers are hawkish the move will be restarted.” — Reuters