Gold prices edged up on Friday, poised for a weekly gain on safe-haven inflows and a U.S. jobs report revealing lower than expected job growth in February, suggesting the Federal Reserve is on track to cut interest rates this year.
Spot gold added 0.3% to $2,918.11 an ounce as of 09:24 (1424 GMT). Bullion has gained over 2% so far this week, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s ever-shifting tariff policies fanned uncertainty.
“Weaker than expected number is giving gold a slight boost… also a weaker dollar for the week right now is helping,” said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.
Spot silver fell 1% to $32.28 an ounce and platinum shed 0.1% to $965.58, while palladium edged 0.5% up to $946.
Source – Reuters
Gold prices were stuck in range-bound trade on Thursday as investors awaited U.S. non-farm payrolls data that could influence the Federal Reserve’s timeline for interest rate cuts.
Spot gold was down 0.3% at $3,347.44 an ounce by 1128 GMT. U.S. gold futures eased by 0.1% to $3,358.
The non-farm payrolls report due at 1230 GMT on Thursday is expected to show an addition of 110,000 jobs in June, down from 139,000 in May, according to a Reuters poll.
Spot silver rose 0.9% to $36.93 an ounce while platinum lost 2.7% to $1,379.95 and palladium retreated by 1.9% to $1,132.76.
Source – Reuters
Chile, the world’s No. 1 copper producer, will boost its output of the red metal to 5.54 million metric tons in 2034, representing a 5.6% increase from 2023, state-run copper commission Cochilco said on Wednesday.
Source – Reuters
Zinc, the biggest loser in the LME complex, is currently trading 4.8% lower than at the start of the year.
Meanwhile, tin prices have increased by 13.5% in the first few weeks of the year, making it the biggest winner.
Copper refining grew as expected at 4.2%, but mine production surprised at 2.3%, 0.5% higher than the ICSG September forecast.
The supply of refined copper is under threat due to mine production, which has put downward pressure on processing fees in copper smelters, according to Commerzbank.
The lead market experienced a minor oversupply due to a substantial increase in mine production.
This increase, just under 2%, was fueled by significantly higher supply in the US, Australia, Peru, and Mexico.
Source – Invezz
“We are witnessing a resilient economy … against a backdrop of geopolitical concerns, and an expectation of some sort of chaos down the road,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors in New York.
Gold reversed its multi-session rally, which was driven by a risk-off flight to safety that drove the precious metal to a record high.
Spot gold fell 0.3% to $2,856.40 an ounce. U.S. gold futures fell 0.39% to $2,860.50 an ounce.
Source – Reuters
“The market is really trying to understand how aggressive these potential tariffs could be and I think the problem is no one really knows the answer,” said Nitesh Shah, commodity strategist at WisdomTree.
Alastair Munro, senior base metals analyst at Marex, said copper found some support from contrarian buying from some Commodity Trade Advisor (CTA) investment funds, which are largely driven by computer programs.
Source – Reuters / Live Mint
