BULLION LATEST 08/01: Weak dollar underpins gold price

The spot gold price was recently quoted at $1,320.25-1,320.60 per oz, up by $1.25 from the previous trading day’s close. Trade has ranged from $1,319.33-1,322.25 per oz so far today.

• Gold has been the beneficiary of a weaker dollar following a soft reading in the United States’ blockbuster jobs report on Friday.
• The December US non-farm payrolls number came in at 148,000, much lower than market expectation of 190,000.
• The headline unemployment rate stood at 4.1%, however, while average hourly earnings increased 0.3% from the previous month, and 2.5% year on year.
• “The dollar index is still weak due to the disappointing US December jobs report,” a macro-economic analyst based in Shanghai said.
• The dollar index was 0.03% higher at 92.05 as of 04:48am London time compared with the previous session’s close, edging away from the multi-month lows reached at the start of the month.
• The dollar index reached a low of 91.75 on January 2, which was its lowest since September 20 when it fell as low as 91.42.
• “Commodities generally had a positive session, helped by the softer USD, with decent gains across precious metals, energy, bulks and softs,” ANZ Research said on Monday.
• “The USD is likely to continue to set the broad tone in the upcoming session,” ANZ Research added.

Silver, PGMs

• In the other precious metals, the spot silver price was up by $0.030 at $17.195-17.230 per oz. Platinum rose by $4 to $968-973 per oz, while palladium was up by $9 to $1095-1100 per oz.
• On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, gold for June delivery was recently at 280.25 yuan ($43.18) per gram, and the June silver was at 3,896 yuan per kg.

Currency moves and data releases

• The dollar index was 0.03% higher at 92.05 as of 04:48am London time.
• In other commodities, the Brent crude oil spot price edged $0.03 higher to $67.73 per barrel and the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price rose by $0.10 to $61.59 per barrel.
• In equities, the Shanghai Composite Index was up by 0.33% to 3402.90 as of 03.29am London time.
• The economic agenda is light today with German factory orders, the United Kingdom’s Halifax house price index, the European Union’s Sentix investor confidence and monthly retail sales as well as US consumer credit.
• In addition, US Federal Open Market Committee members Raphael Bostic and John Williams are speaking.
• “It’s a quiet start to the week in terms of data releases and events. The offshore highlights are concentrated on Friday with China’s trade data [for December] along with US [consumer price index] and US retail sales all due for release on the last working day of the week,” National Australian Bank noted on Monday.