By Simon Kennedy, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Gold futures edged up in electronic trading Friday, extending their gains into a third day as markets awaited critical jobs data in the U.S.
Gold for December delivery GC1Z -0.01% gained $7.40, or 0.5%, to $1,660.60 an ounce on the Globex market.
The contract is down over 9% since the start of September, but has rallied off the lows it hit just before the end of the month.
Silver futures were also marginally higher, with the December contract SI1Z -0.72% adding 6 cents, or 0.2%, to $32.07 an ounce.
The moves remained muted as traders awaited September’s nonfarm payrolls figures, which are due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. Economists polled by MarketWatch are expecting the figures to show a net 59,000 jobs were added in September, following a flat reading in August.
“We believe today’s U.S. nonfarm payroll data [are] likely to be a critically important indicator for the broad financial markets, including commodities, as it will provide important guidance for the lackluster U.S. labor market,” said Deutsche Bank commodities analyst Adam Sieminski, in a note to clients.
Deutsche Bank economists are expecting a 70,000 rise in payrolls, which would indicate a slowdown, but not a recession.
Sieminski said that market indicators also suggest that “gold will continue to outperform silver in an environment in which Western world growth is under attack.”
Simon Kennedy is the City correspondent for MarketWatch in London.
