By Claudia Assis and William L. Watts, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures veered between small gains and losses Monday amid thin trading and as investors continued to weigh the implications of last week’s stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs growth.
Gold for December delivery GCZ2 +0.37% recently advanced $3.60, or 0.2%, to trade at $1,612.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold futures snapped a three-day losing streak to post a winning session Friday after data showed the U.S. economy added 163,000 nonfarm jobs in July, topping the average forecast of a rise of 100,000. The unemployment rate, however, edged up to 8.3% from 8.2%.
Stronger economic data is a double-edged sword for gold, strategists at Credit Suisse said in a research note.
The dollar “tends to depreciate after good economic data due to reduced safe haven flows. That is positive for gold,” they said. Good economic data, however, “means that there is a lower probability of further monetary easing, which is negative for gold. We think the most likely outcome for this week is sideways trading.”
Click to Play
What we can learn from Mars
The successful landing of NASA's Curiosity rover lays the groundwork for a deeper understanding of Mars.
The dollar index DXY -0.21% , which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of six major rivals, declined to 82.307 from 82.39 in North American trade late Friday.
Other metals lost ground, with silver futures SIU2 +0.23% off 7 cents, or 0.2%, to $27.74 an ounce.September copper futures HGU2 +0.56% lost less than 1 cent, or 0.1%, to $3.37 a pound.
October platinum PLV2 -0.80% fell $14.30 an ounce, or 1%, to $1,400.10 an ounce.
September palladium PAU2 +0.08% also wavered between small gains and losses, up 25 cents to $578.25 an ounce.
Meanwhile, the world’s largest exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust GLD +0.60% , reported inflows of 3 metric tons as of Friday.
The fund had been suffered declines in tonnage but on Friday had 1,255 metric tons held in trust, from 1,249 a week prior.
Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch.
William L. Watts is MarketWatch's European bureau chief, based in Frankfurt.
