NEW YORK—Gold futures rose slightly, supported by higher oil prices and an easing U.S. dollar as markets digest Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls data.
In recent trading, most-active June gold was up $1.90, or 0.2%, at $1,128 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Thinly traded nearby April gold was up $2.40, or 0.2%, at $1,127.50.
Industrial commodities are being helped by talk of an accelerated economic recovery after Friday's positive U.S. jobs report, and that support is spilling over into gold.
"It's more predicated off of the strength in oil," said Jim Steel, senior vice president and metals analyst with HSBC. "Gold is getting some tailwind from other commodities."
Investors often move in and out of other commodities at the same time as the bellwether oil market.
Nymex May crude was up 81 cents, or 1%, at $85.68 a barrel, helped by Friday's positive jobs data.
The Labor Department said Friday that the economy created 162,000 jobs in March. While that headline number missed analyst estimates, that was because of a smaller-than-expected number of hires by the Commerce Department to conduct the census. The New York gold market was closed Friday. U.K. markets are closed Monday.
For gold, though, the jobs data has largely been priced in, says Carlos Sanchez, associate director of research with CPM Group.
The market is also waiting for monetary policy news, he says.
The minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate-setting meeting in mid-March are scheduled to be published Tuesday. The central bank also has its regular discount-rate meeting Monday.
Other central bank meetings this week include the Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of Australia as well as the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.
