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Singapore - Gold headed for the first back-to-back daily drop since the UK’s Brexit vote as investors turned their focus to a US jobs report that’ll shed light on the health of the labour market in the world’s top economy.
Gold and silver prices declined in Shanghai.
Bullion for immediate delivery fell as much as 0.4% to $1 354.69 an ounce and was at $1 357.53 at 2:04 p.m. in Singapore, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. Prices remain on course for a sixth weekly gain, the longest winning run in two years, after rising to $1 375.28 on July 6, the highest since March 2014. Spot metal in Shanghai lost 0.8%.
Gold has rallied 28% this year as demand for haven assets surged amid market uncertainty after the Brexit vote in June and as traders cut bets on the Federal Reserve increasing interest rates this year.
Investors are waiting for Friday’s US non-farm payrolls as Fed officials flagged concern over job creation at their last meeting, which was held before the British referendum.
"Market focus is now moving back to the US economy," said Madhavi Mehta, an analyst at Mumbai-based Kotak Commodity Services. "While global economic uncertainty is high, the outlook for the US economy is still not bad and this will eventually become evident from US economic numbers. This could dent the rise in gold prices.”
Employers in the US probably added 180 000 workers to non-farm payrolls last month, according to the median of economists’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The data comes after a weak 38 000-person increase for May that hurt expectations for hikes from the Fed.
The Brexit vote also cut the odds for tightening in 2016, with the likelihood of a rise by December at just 12%.
Holdings in gold-backed exchange-traded funds dipped 4 metric tons to 1 997.5 tonnes on Thursday, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The assets surpassed the 2 000 tonne level on Wednesday to gain to the highest since July 2013.
Bullion of 99.99% purity lost 0.8% at 291.85 yuan a gram ($1 357.49 an ounce) on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, paring a fifth weekly advance.
Silver on the Shanghai Futures Exchange lost 2.3%. Spot silver is down 0.3% this week, while platinum retreated 0.5% on Friday to trim the weekly gain to 2.4%. Palladium fell 0.6%.
