LONDON: Gold firmed yesterday as some investors bought into bullion-backed funds, but uncertainly ahead of US jobs data and a lack of Asian demand during the Lunar New Year break kept the metal in its tightest range in six weeks.
Concerns about the fragility of stock markets after a recent heavy sell-off has piqued some investment interest in gold, with the world’s largest bullion-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, reporting a 3.9 tonne inflow on Tuesday.
Spot gold was up 0.4 percent at $1,259.30 an ounce at 1232 GMT, while US gold futures for February delivery were up $7.10 an ounce at $1,258.30. Spot prices held in a daily range of less than $7, their narrowest since Christmas Day.
Investors are likely to stick to the sidelines ahead of US non-farm payrolls data for January, which are due on Friday and are widely seen as a barometer for the health of the world’s largest economy.
Ahead of that, they will be watching yesterday’s ADP reading on private hiring due at 1315 GMT. Any disappointment will be taken badly by stock market investors, analysts said, but could benefit gold.
“The market is sitting tight ahead of the US jobs report on Friday and today’s ADP’s private sector employment survey,” Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital, said. “Physical buyers are absent owning to holidays in China, and there’s a bit of a seasonal lull, while investors remain sceptical.”
European stocks inched up in early trade, snapping their steepest two-week pull-back in seven months, but underlying worries about global growth and emerging market currencies kept buyers on edge.
Reuters
