Johannesburg - A disappointing US non-farm payrolls report on Friday sent the spot price of gold to its highest level in more than six months - a level of $1.733 per fine ounce - amid increased market hopes of stimulus measures from the US Federal Reserve when it convenes for its policy meeting next week.
The US economy added 96 000 jobs in August‚ lower than 125 000 forecast by Dow Jones economists.
The jobs gain in July was also revised lower to 141 000 from 163 000.
The unemployment rate‚ though‚ unexpectedly fell to 8.1% versus a consensus expectation of 8.3%.
Daniel Sacks‚ portfolio manager at Investec Asset Management‚ said the fundamentals of the yellow metal remained in favour of it reaching “our forecast price of $1 800 next year”.
Sacks said fears for an over-leveraged global economy and inflationary spike tend to make investors reach for the safety of a tangible asset rather than rely on paper currencies to protect their wealth.
At 15:42‚ gold was trading 1.62% higher to $1 728.14 an ounce.
Meanwhile‚ Platinum tested the $1 600 level‚ its highest level since April this year.
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