By 15.18 GMT, the price of gold rose 1.2 percent in spot transactions to $ 1867.60 an ounce, after it jumped earlier to the highest level in a week. And US gold futures rose 1.2 percent to $ 1870.20 an ounce.
The dollar fell 0.5 percent, after rising yesterday to its highest level in a week.
“The US jobs data is already raising recession fears that have been brewing in the market and prop up gold,” said Ryan McKay, commodity analyst at TD Securities.
Data from the National Employment Report showed that private payrolls rose by 128,000 jobs last month, versus expectations for an increase of 300,000 jobs.
The weekly jobless claims report showed that the number of Americans who applied for new benefits decreased while the demand for labor remained strong.
As the Federal Reserve tries to curb demand for labor as it tries to tame soaring inflation, it needs to do so without pushing the unemployment rate too high.
Investors will now await tomorrow’s non-farm payrolls data, which is expected to show strong job growth in May.
For other precious metals, silver rose in spot transactions two percent to $22.24 an ounce. And platinum rose 2.2 percent to 1018.17 dollars an ounce. Palladium rose 1.1 percent to $ 2018.57 an ounce.
(Archyde.com)