Even the prospect of higher US interest rates has not been enough to faze gold bulls as angst over the US election puts the metal on course for a fourth straight weekly gain.
Gold had its longest weekly rally since July, with buyers undeterred as a report showing steady progress in the US labor market strengthened the case for higher interest rates.
Investors are seeking haven assets, with the MSCI All-Country World Index sinking to an almost four-month low.
The jobs report comes as polls showing a tightening race ahead of US presidential election help rekindle demand for gold, which had slid last month amid signs the US economy is improving.
Analysts at Citigroup Inc are among those saying further gains could be in store for bullion should Republican candidate Donald Trump beat Democratic US presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is seen by some investors as the more predictable contender.
Gold futures for December delivery on Friday rose 0.1 percent to settle at US$1,304.50 an ounce at 1:42pm on the Comex in New York, taking this week’s advance to 2.2 percent.
Prices are up for a fourth straight week, the longest rally since July 8.
Citigroup said gold could climb to as high as US$1,400 per ounce if Trump wins.
Trump is stronger in Iowa and Ohio pre-election-day voting, while Clinton’s advantage in early balloting looks stronger in North Carolina and Nevada, a Bloomberg Politics analysis shows.
Payrolls last month climbed by 161,000 following a 191,000 gain in September that was larger than previously estimated, a US Labor Department report showed on Friday.
The jobless rate fell to 4.9 percent, while wages rose from a year earlier by the most since 2009.
The odds of a rate increase by the US Federal Reserve in December rose to 78 percent, from 69 percent a week ago.
The Fed this week said that it will wait for “some further evidence” of progress in the economy before raising rates.
Higher rates curb the investment appeal of gold, which does not pay interest.
Other precious metals:
Holdings in gold-backed exchange-traded funds rose 1.9 tonnes to 2,044.9 tonnes as of Thursday, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Assets were set for the first weekly gain in three.
Silver futures slipped on the Comex, while platinum and palladium futures gained on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Base metals:
Zinc retreated from a five-year high on the London Metal Exchange, while copper fell from its highest level since July.
The LMEX Metals Index, which tracks six major base metals, on Thursday rose to the most in more than 15 months as investors bet that a rebound in demand from China, surging coal prices and logistics issues will underpin prices.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group