Gold Rises In Asia on US Payrolls Data Eyed

5:53 AM

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Gold Rises In Asia on US Payrolls Data Eyed
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Gold prices rose in Asian trading Friday amid a broad-based bounce in metal prices following moves by European central banks to support their struggling economy.

Spot gold rose as high as $1,666.16 a troy ounce intraday as investors bought the yellow metal in response to fresh liquidity measures announced Thursday by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England. Gold was trading at $1,657.10/oz at 0615 GMT, up $6.80 from its previous close.

Credit Suisse warned investors to remain wary of persistent macroeconomic uncertainty in Europe, despite the boost the liquidity measures gave to gold prices.

"Any deterioration in the European sovereign debt situation could trigger another round of de-leveraging given that funding pressures are still high," the bank's analysts said in a report, tipping near-term resistance at $1,700/oz.

Later in the day, precious metals will take direction from U.S. non-farm payroll data, analysts said. A weaker-than-expected payroll reading could spur a flight to safe-haven assets amid fears over the health of the world's largest economy, while an improvement in the data could boost risk appetite, limiting demand for gold.

MF Global analysts said market consensus is for a gain of 60,000 jobs compared with a dismal reading in August that showed payrolls were unchanged. The house said it expects unemployment to hold at 9.1%, the same level as last month.

Early next week, Chinese market participants' trading activity is also likely to influence gold's price direction, analysts said. The Chinese market has been closed this week for the country's National Day holiday, and pent-up demand from physical gold buyers could help bolster prices Monday, Mitsui Global Precious Metals said.

"If price action remains pent up to the end of [this] week, Monday could see a strong breakout, with Chinese interest potentially geared to buying following pre-holiday liquidation," it said.

The rest of the precious metals complex also rose.

Silver climbed 24 cents to $32.17/oz. Platinum was trading at $1,518.50/oz, up $6.50, while palladium rose $3.00 to $606.00/oz....READ MORE