Investing.com - Gold futures traded modestly lower in the early part of Wednesday’s Asian session on some profit-taking following an impressive showing by the yellow metal on Tuesday.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery fell 0.20% to USD1,339.90 per troy ounce in Asian trading Wednesday. The December contract settled higher by 2.04% at USD1,342.60 per ounce on Tuesday.
Gold got a lift after the U.S. Labor Department said the U.S. economy added 148,000 jobs in September, well below expectations for an increase of 180,000.
The previous month’s figure was revised up to a gain of 193,000 from a previously reported increase of 169,000. July's figure was revised down to 89,000 from 104,000. The unemployment rate in the world’s largest economy fell to 7.2% from 7.3%.
That report was delayed due to the recent government shutdown. With the September jobs report being a disappointment, gold was lifted because that disappointment means the Federal Reserve is unlikely to taper its USD85 billion-a-month bond-buying program before the late part of the first quarter of 2014.
Prior to the release of the September jobs report, concerns that the government shutdown and accompanying default fears had may investors betting that any decision to taper asset purchases would come later rather than sooner, and the weak data supported those sentiments on Tuesday.
Gold holdings in the SPDR Gold Shares, the world’s largest gold-backed ETF, expanded 0.8 percent to 878.32 metric tons yesterday, the first increase since Sept. 19, Bloomberg reported.
Elsewhere, Comex silver for December delivery fell 0.20% to USD22.745 an ounce while copper for December delivery lost 0.11% to USD3.332 per ounce.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery fell 0.20% to USD1,339.90 per troy ounce in Asian trading Wednesday. The December contract settled higher by 2.04% at USD1,342.60 per ounce on Tuesday.
Gold got a lift after the U.S. Labor Department said the U.S. economy added 148,000 jobs in September, well below expectations for an increase of 180,000.
The previous month’s figure was revised up to a gain of 193,000 from a previously reported increase of 169,000. July's figure was revised down to 89,000 from 104,000. The unemployment rate in the world’s largest economy fell to 7.2% from 7.3%.
That report was delayed due to the recent government shutdown. With the September jobs report being a disappointment, gold was lifted because that disappointment means the Federal Reserve is unlikely to taper its USD85 billion-a-month bond-buying program before the late part of the first quarter of 2014.
Prior to the release of the September jobs report, concerns that the government shutdown and accompanying default fears had may investors betting that any decision to taper asset purchases would come later rather than sooner, and the weak data supported those sentiments on Tuesday.
Gold holdings in the SPDR Gold Shares, the world’s largest gold-backed ETF, expanded 0.8 percent to 878.32 metric tons yesterday, the first increase since Sept. 19, Bloomberg reported.
Elsewhere, Comex silver for December delivery fell 0.20% to USD22.745 an ounce while copper for December delivery lost 0.11% to USD3.332 per ounce.