COMEX gold futures rose to a fresh six-month high Friday morning as a less-than-expected gain in US September payroll jobs undercut the dollar and boosted investment in the safe-haven metal.
"The number came out worse than expected and some buy-stop orders were touched off over $422," said one floor source about the action in the gold trading ring.
September US non-farm payrolls data showed 96,000 new jobs were created, below market expectations of 148,000 following 144,000 new jobs in August.
At 9:42 am EDT (1342 GMT), December gold was up $4.60 at $424.10 a ounce, trading from $418.90 to $426.00 which marked its highest since April 12 when it started to retreat from 16-year highs set on the first of that month.
Spot was quoted at $422.10/2.90, near a six-month peak at $422.85 following a surging euro.
December silver surged 9.3 cents to $7.310 by 9:43 am, trading from $7.170 to $7.340. Spot silver traded hands at $7.27/30, compared with $7.16/7.19 at Thursday's close.
NYMEX January platinum was up 20 cents at $838.50 an ounce. Spot was last quoted at $839.00/844.00.
December palladium gained $4.30 to $237.75 an ounce. Spot palladium last traded at $233.00/238.00.