Golden Fluctuations
Despite investors thinking that Gold prices would be steady on Wednesday on a though that they hit their highest levels in almost two weeks the previous day, Gold surprisingly broke higher levels to reach $1123.5 At 8:30 a.m. GMT – and it seems from the trend that there are more higher ways to go.
When investors partly factored in expectations of strong U.S. jobs data later this week, Gold hit $1,117.95 on Tuesday. Today, spot gold went down 0.1 percent to $1,110.9 per ounce by 2:00 a.m. GMT compared to New York’s notional close of $1,113.95. Then Gold flew up again to $1123.5, its highest level since Jan. 20.
U.S. gold futures for April delivery GCJ0 were down 0.4 percent at $1,113.90 an ounce after rising $13 on Tuesday. On Wednesday it hit $1124.3 at 7:00 a.m. GMT.
“If the non-farm payrolls data outperforms then I believe people will be more positive about the U.S. economy and we’ll see more risk-taking,” said Wong Eng Soon, an investment analyst at Phillip Futures Pte in Singapore.
Strong corporate earnings and improving economic data has always encouraged investors to move from the dollar into riskier assets and currencies where returns are higher.
U.S. economic data to be released on Wednesday, including the ADP national private-sector employment report, are also awaited as investors try to ascertain if U.S. nonfarm payrolls grew or shrank in January. The payrolls data is due on Friday.
The renewed focus on jobs by President Barrack Obama in his State of the Union address has made the data even more closely watched.
