By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures fell by as much as $15 an ounce Thursday as a jump in private-sector jobs in December and a drop in jobless claims last week dulled safe-haven investment demand for the precious metal.
Gold for February delivery GC2G -0.26% declined $4, or 0.2%, to $1,609.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded as low as $1,597.70 an ounce.
“The improvement in the U.S. job situation has helped pare gold’s gains,” said Mark O’Byrne, executive director at GoldCore. “It has led to gold’s fall despite renewed worries about contagion in the euro zone.”
Private-sector payrolls swelled in December, led by the services sector and small businesses, according to the employment report released Thursday by payrolls processing firm Automatic Data Processing Inc. Private payrolls gained 325,000, far outpacing growth in prior months. Read more about the ADP data.
Separately, the Labor Department reported new requests for unemployment benefits fell by 15,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 372,000. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had projected claims would fall to 373,000 in the week ended Dec. 31. Read more about jobless claims.
On Wednesday, gold futures finished at $1,612.70, the highest settlement for a most-active contract since Dec. 21. Prices found support, in part, from uncertainty surrounding Iran’s threat to disrupt shipments in the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping channel. Read about Wednesday’s gold action.
Other metals futures traded lower Thursday, with silver, copper, platinum and palladium extending their losses from a day earlier.
March silver SI2H -0.54% fell 31 cents, or 1.1%, to $28.79 an ounce.
Copper for the same month’s delivery HG2H -1.05% declined 4 cents, or 1.3%, to $3.39 a pound.
April platinum PL2J -0.67% was off $15.80, or 1.1%, to $1,410.50 an ounce. March palladium PA2H -0.97% declined $9.65, or 1.5%, to $643.90 an ounce.
