By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures dropped Thursday, dipping below the $1,690 level before recovering to trade marginally below its close in the regular U.S. session, as traders awaited economic data, including a U.S. jobs report due Friday, for further indications on the metal’s direction.
Gold for February GCG3 -0.0059% delivery fell $1.90, or 0.1%, to $1,690.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
During Wednesday’s regular U.S. session, the contract ended 0.1% lower, pressured as hopes for a breakthrough in forging a budget agreement spurred gains in the U.S. dollar.
Thursday’s weakness marked the third-straight losing session for the metal, kicked off by Tuesday’s slide of $25.30, which left the metal down 1.5% for the session.
Nonfarm-payroll data due out Friday are expected to show a sharp decrease in jobs growth in November compared with gains in October, owing to disruptions related to Hurricane Sandy.
Expectations are for a gain of 93,000 jobs for the month, according to poll by Reuters, drop from October’s 171,000 gain.
Silver for March delivery SIH3 -0.34% fell 7 U.S. cents, or 0.2%, to $32.89 an ounce, following a 0.5% gain on Wednesday.
Chris Oliver is MarketWatch's Asia bureau chief, based in Hong Kong.
