Investing.com – Gold prices were trending higher on Friday despite data pointing to another massive US jobs growth in September and the potential for the Federal Reserve to hike rates again before the year-end, in what would be a boon to Treasury yields and the dollar and a curse to the yellow metal.
Gold’s most-active contract on New York’s Comex, December, was up $6.55, or 0.4%, at $1,838.35 an ounce by 11:05 ET (15:05 GMT).
The , more closely watched by some traders than futures, was at $1,824.17, up $3.91, or 0.2%, on the day.
While futures of gold on New York’s Comex, as well as the spot price of bullion traded globally, were up on the day, on a weekly basis both fell for a third week in a row, responding to the relentless selloff of late in bonds and the rally in the dollar.
December gold, which fell 3.1% last week to hit a 7-month low of 1,881.50, was headed for a 2.3% slide this week.
Spot gold could reach $1,750 support as central banks waiting to accumulate bullion there
Spot gold lost 4% last week, the most since a near 6% plunge during the week to June 11, 2021, and was headed for a further drop of 1.2% this week after plumbing a 7-month low of $1,810.47.
“I think the bears will eventually push the spot price to $1,700 territory as global central banks are waiting to accumulate big chunks of gold at between the support levels of $1,760 to $1,750,” said Sunil Kumar Dixit, a technical analyst for gold at SKCharting.com.
“The rampant US jobs growth for September didn’t immediately bring the new wave of selling expected in gold, but I think whatever rebound you’re seeing now won’t last.”
The US Labor Department reported 336,000 new non-farm payrolls for September, the highest since January’s 517,000, and way above the 187,000 seen in August and the average 170,000 forecast for last month by Wall Street economists.
“This is a problem as it validates the recent move up in Treasury yields,” economist Adam Button wrote on the ForexLive forum.
The , which pits the greenback against six other currencies, hovered at just under 106.4, up on the day, but off from the 11-month high of 107.35 earlier this week.
Yields, benchmarked against the , reached a new 16-year high of 4.892.
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