By Deborah Levine and Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures fell Wednesday morning, pressured as investors favored riskier assets following gains in Asia and recent strength in the U.S. stock market, but a report showing that U.S. employers added more jobs than some analysts expected helped limit gold’s losses.
Copper, meanwhile, had briefly topped Tuesday’s closing high on supply concerns amid nervousness as a severe cyclone headed toward Australia. Read more on cyclone, Queensland.
Gold futures for April delivery (GCJ11 1,337, -3.20, -0.24%) were last down $3 at $1,337.30 an ounce, after slipping to as low as $1,332.50 earlier.
Gold pared losses after ADP reported that U.S. private-sector employers added 187,000 jobs in January. Read more about the ADP report.
After the data, the dollar gave up some of its gains, making gold relatively more attractive to investors. The dollar index (DXY 77.00, -0.07, -0.09%) , which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded at 77.103 after the jobs data, versus 77.158 before the report and compared to 76.008 late Tuesday.
“For now, the easing of concerns over Egypt and a series of strong macro data around the world suggest that gold might find it hard to break significantly on the upside in the short term,” said analysts at Barclays Capital in a new report. “Nonetheless, physical demand is still robust,” they said, noting signals of strength in Japan, and India ahead of next month’s wedding season.
Overall, precious metals have “slipped back a bit as confidence in Europe continues to improve with another successful Portuguese debt auction,” said Colin Cieszynski, a market analyst at CMC Markets, in a Wednesday note to clients.
March silver (SIH11 2,847, -4.90, -0.17%) was down 2.9 cents at $28.49 an ounce.
March copper futures (HGH11 453.95, -0.75, -0.17%) were little changed at $4.55 a pound, after closing at the highest level ever on the Comex unit of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday. See story on gold and copper.
Shipments of copper and gold, as well as bauxite and nickel have been suspended as port operators in northern Queensland, Australia shut down activities ahead of Cyclone Yasi, which is expected to make landfall on Thursday morning local time, according to a newsletter Wednesday from FastMarkets Ltd.
March palladium (PAH11 821.95, -1.60, -0.19%) was down $4.05 at $819.50, while April platinum (PLJ11 1,835, +2.00, +0.11%) was the lone gainer so far among the metals, up 60 cents at $1,833.60.
