By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch)—Gold futures inched lower during European trading hours on Friday, retreating from the highest level in nearly six months reached the prior day.
Gold futures for December GCZ2 -0.47% fell $8.50, or 0.5%, to $1,697.10 an ounce in electronic trade.
The move down came after the yellow metal rose 0.7% on Thursday, when the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi detailed plans to help struggling euro-zone economies through bond purchases.
Developments in the U.S. were also on investors’ minds ahead of nonfarm payroll numbers to be released later in the day.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed concerns about the U.S. labor market at his speech in Jackson Hole, Wyo. last week, boosting hopes that he will push the quantitative easing trigger at the bank’s policy meeting next week. Over the longer term, Fed easing could lend support to gold prices, analysts at Commerzbank said in a note.
“If U.S. labor market data prove disappointing when they are published this afternoon, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke may well announce ‘QE3’ at next week’s meeting of the Fed. This would give a significant boost to commodity prices, and precious metals in particular,” the Commerzbank analysts said.
Elsewhere in the metals complex, prices were mixed.
December palladium PAZ2 -0.56% fell 0.7% to $643.30 an ounce, while platinum for October delivery PLV2 -0.44% slipped 0.5% to $1,579.10 an ounce.
Copper for December delivery HGZ2 +1.72% rose 1.7% to $3.58 a pound.
Sara Sjolin is a MarketWatch reporter, based in London.
