The price of gold was ticking lower Tuesday morning with the US dollar trading steady versus a basket of currencies ahead of the release of non-farm payroll report, due out later today.
Gold for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, slipped $2.90 to $1,312.90 an ounce. Yesterday, gold settled marginally higher as investors look ahead to a slew of upcoming earnings and macroeconomic reports after the sixteen-day U.S. government shutdown which ended last week. With a series of economic reports expected, investors anticipate the Federal Reserve will continue with its monetary stimulus program unchanged.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, moved down to 871.72 tons from 882.23 tons.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar was lingering near a 10-month low versus the euro and sterling, while trading higher against the Swiss franc and the yen.
In economic news from the euro zone, Switzerland's trade surplus beat expectations in September, the latest figures from the Federal Customs Administrations showed. The trade surplus for September was CHF 2.5 billion compared with an expected CHF 2 billion surplus. In the July-September period, the trade surplus was CHF 6.9 billion.
Elsewhere, the U.K. budget deficit narrowed to GBP 11.1 billion in September from GBP 12.1 billion seen in the corresponding period of last year, the Office for National Statistics reported. Public sector net borrowing excluding financial interventions was also below consensus of GBP 11.3 billion. The GBP 3.2 billion received in cash from the sale of Lloyds banking group shares in September did not reduce PSNB, the ONS said.
Meanwhile, the prices of silver and platinum were ticking lower in morning deals.
From the U.S., the Labor Department is scheduled to release its monthly non-farm payrolls report for September at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect the economy to have added 185,000 jobs for the month, while the unemployment rate is expected to have remained unchanged at 7.3 percent.
The Commerce Department will release its construction spending report for August at 10 am ET. The consensus estimates call for a 0.4 percent increase in construction spending for the month compared to the 0.6 percent increase in the previous month.
