US benchmark gold futures rose early on Friday after the dollar fell on a weaker-than-expected US jobs report for April, though the metal held below an overnight 25-year high on profit-taking.
Silver took off with gold before it saw speculative selling emerge by midmorning, and platinum and palladium traded mixed. "It was all off the jobs data," a trader at a precious metals desk said. "That helped the euro explode higher, and so gold was firm, but then it looked like a good exit strategy for anyone who wants to take some profits."
June delivery gold was up $1.50 at $678 an ounce by 10:28 am EDT (1428 GMT) on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, trading between $675.50 and a 25-year peak of $687 scaled earlier.
The morning's high was the strongest for futures since October 1980. That year, gold set an all-time high above $870. The Labour Department reported 138,000 non-farm payroll jobs were created in April, far below Wall Street expectations for a rise of 200,000. Job creation in the previous two months was revised downward.
Gold was hampered by this week's pullback in crude oil prices. Gold is a classic inflation hedge. Oil stood up 6 cents at $70 a barrel, down from a recent record above $75.
Dealers were eyeing moves in currencies and energy because investors have taken their cue from these markets. Concerns over political risk in producing nations in South America and Iran's standoff with the West over its nuclear ambitions also has fuelled buying in metals, despite prices being technically overbought.
Spot gold shot to a new 25-year peak at $684.10 an ounce. It pulled back to $677.20/678.20, up from Thursday's New York close at $676.90/7.90. London dealers fixed bullion at $678 Friday afternoon.
Bullion hit an all-time high of $850 in 1980. COMEX July silver gained 5 cents to $13.8750 an ounce, dealing between $13.80 and $14.40. Spot silver traded at $13.87/13.97, versus $13.94/14.04 previously.
Friday's fix was at $14.07. NYMEX July platinum rose $11.60 to $1,188 an ounce. Spot platinum last was at $1,178/1,182. June palladium reached $382 an ounce, up $1.75. Spot palladium fetched $377/382.
Comments
Comments are closed.