Precious metal likely to score first weekly gain in six
By Moming Zhou, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures rose Friday, poised to mark their first weekly gain in six after a U.S. jobs report hit the dollar, raising gold's investment appeal.
Nonfarm payrolls fell by a seasonally adjusted 85,000 in December, the Labor Department reported. Analysts surveyed by MarketWatch were looking for a payroll increase of 15,000. November payroll, however, was revised to show a gain of 4,000.
The dollar dropped against most of its major rivals after the report. The dollar index (DXY 77.62, -0.29, -0.38%) was last down 0.5% at 77.601.
Gold for February delivery rose 0.1% to $1,134.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract is set to end the week up more than 3%.
"The weak headline number has been interpreted by the market to mean the Fed will keep its easy money stance, which has resulted in a very weak U.S. dollar," said Brian Kelly, chief executive of Kanundrum Research, a commodities and macroeconomic research firm. "In turn, gold is a major beneficiary."
Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust (GLD 110.40, -0.42, -0.38%) , the biggest gold exchange-traded fund, fell slightly to 1,123.5 metric tons as of Thursday, down 0.37 metric tons from a day ago.
The Labor Department also said in the report that since the recession began two years ago, payrolls have fallen by 7.3 million. And the official unemployment rate remained at 10% in December. See story about the payroll report.
In other metals, March silver rose 0.6% to $18.45 an ounce, March palladium gained 1.6% to $431.50 an ounce, and April platinum gained 0.8% to $1,574.50 an ounce.
