Gold prices were little changed on Thursday as investors stayed away from making big bets ahead of US payrolls data that could provide further clues on the size of an expected rate cut this month.

Gold hits two-week low as traders expect smaller US Fed rate cut

Fundamentals

• Spot gold was unchanged at $2,494.54 per ounce, as of 0054 GMT. US gold futures were little changed at $2,524.50.

• Non-yielding bullion tends to perform well when interest rates are low. It is also considered a hedge against economic and political uncertainties.

• Data overnight showed that US job openings dropped to a 3-1/2-year low in July, suggesting the labour market was losing steam, but the reduction on its own is probably not enough to warrant a half-percentage-point rate cut by the Federal Reserve this month.

• Traders raised the odds of a 50-basis-point rate cut at the Fed’s Sept. 17-18 meeting to 44% from 38%, as per the CME FedWatch Tool. The US nonfarm payrolls data due on Friday is pivotal for Fed expectations.

• The ADP employment report, a reading on the US services industry, and jobless claims data due later in the day are also on radar.

• The US central bank must not keep rates too high much longer or it risks causing too much harm to employment, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said on Wednesday.

• Spot silver fell 0.1% to $28.244 per ounce, platinum gained 0.7% to $908.60 and palladium was flat at $933.75.

• South Korea’s Posco Future said that it is suspending a plan to build a new battery materials factory with China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt in South Korea, citing slowing demand for electric vehicles.