LONDON—The spot price of gold moved higher in what is likely to be another choppy, sparsely traded week.
Ahead of the New York day, spot gold was up $10.80, or 0.6%, at $1,799.30 a troy ounce, while spot silver was up 19 cents, or 0.5% at $41.07 an ounce.
After last week's heavy losses, which saw the spot price of gold tumble from an intraday record at $1,912.29 an ounce to just over $1,700 an ounce in only three days, gold investors are likely to be wary of making any bold moves while the memory of the rout remains fresh, said Afshin Nabavi, head of trading and physical sales at MKS Finance.
"I think that this was probably a correction that was overdue, but the market needs to be more confident before moving higher," he said.
Thin trading conditions should also heighten price volatility, particularly since many Middle Eastern investors will be away from the markets celebrating the end of Ramadan, he said.
Still, physical buying is providing a cushion of downside support to prices, and should continue to keep any dips well-bid, he said.
The release later Tuesday of minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's Aug. 9 meeting is likely to be closely eyed by market participants, as will Friday's monthly nonfarm payroll figures, deemed a key indicator of the health of the U.S. economy, market players said. Investors will be particularly interested in signs of the Fed's thinking on potentially launching another round of financial stimulus into the U.S. economy.
Further financial stimulus would be positive for gold, which benefits in high liquidity environments. Such measures would also weaken the dollar, making dollar-denominated gold appear cheaper to foreign currency buyers.
Among other precious metals, spot platinum was up $11, or 0.6%, at $1,831 an ounce, while spot palladium was up $10, or 1.3%, at $762 an ounce.
Write to Francesca Freeman at francesca.freeman@dowjones.com
