By Victor Reklaitis, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Gold prices lost ground Thursday, turning negative for the holiday-shortened week, as a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report weighed on safety plays.
August gold futures GCQ4 -1.04% fell $14.70, or 1.1%, to $1,316.20 an ounce. The contract briefly undercut the $1,310 level after the jobs data before paring its loss. It’s on pace for a weekly decline of 0.3%, giving up what had been a gain for the week.
The U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in June, and the unemployment rate fell to a nearly six-year low of 6.1%, the government reported Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected an addition of 215,000 jobs, along with an unemployment rate of 6.3%.
On Wednesday, gold advanced for a fourth session in a row, with prices settling at their highest level since March 21, based on the most-active contracts.
In other metals trading on Thursday, September silver SIU4 -1.09% fell 27 cents, or 1.3%, to $21.04 an ounce. October platinum PLV4 -0.59% dropped $9.40, or 0.6%, to $1,502.10 an ounce, while palladium for September delivery PAU4 -0.33% shed $2.85, or 0.3%, to $854.55 an ounce.
High-grade copper for September delivery HGU4 -0.20% lost a penny, or 0.3%, to trade at $3.25 per pound.
