By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was up on Friday morning in Asia, building on its gains from the previous session after a surprising uptick in the number of U.S. initial jobless claims saw investors turn to the safe-haven yellow metal.
A total of 1.106 million Americans claimed unemployment benefits during the previous week according to data released on Thursday. Surpassing the one million-mark, the number of claims also surpassed the forecasted 925,000 claims prepared by Investing.com as well as last Thursday's 971,000 figure.
Gold futures were up 0.39% at $1,954.10 by 12:49 AM ET (5:49 AM GMT).
After Wednesday’s release of the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting disappointed with their lack of guidance, investors will be looking to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium, to take place from August 27-28, which will touch on the Fed’s Monetary Policy Framework Review, according to a Fed statement on Thursday.
Investors are also keeping an eye on the U.S.-China relationship, with the two countries working to reschedule talks to discuss trade and other matters. Originally scheduled to take place on August 15, the two sides will be in close contact in the near term for the new date, according to Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng. But Gao did not announce an exact date, nor provide further details.