As trading opened for the last working day of the week, October 7th, the price of gold remained stable and appeared set for its largest weekly gain since March of this year.
Prices rose by around 3%, thanks to a slight decrease in dollar value, as well as multi-year Treasury yields. Spot gold traded at around $1,709.69 per ounce, while gold futures remained static at $1,719.90.
That the price of gold remains steady is seen as a positive sign by many market watchers, especially with the upcoming US jobs report which is expected to show investors’ the trajectory of the Federal Reserve’s next potential hike in interest rates.
According to the IG Client Sentiment (IGCS,) chart, around 74% of retail traders are looking at net-long gold. As most of them skew their bias to the upside, it is possible that gold prices may drop lower over the next few weeks. Likewise, short positioning has grown by around 7.73% and 33.74%, and recent changes in positioning speak to the contrary and hint at higher prices.
While gold rallied, the price of spot silver went down by 0.4% to settle at $26.50 per ounce. Platinum, on the other hand, also fell by 0.4%, resulting in $918.38. Palladium, however, fell by 0.6% and settled at $2,247.62.
Overseas, sales of gold products at the Perth Mint rose by 4.2% month-on-month as of the end of September, while silver sales hit a seven-year high.
What’s With the Jobs Report?
Meanwhile, analysts kept their focus on the US nonfarm payroll report, particularly due to recent forecasts that around 250,000 jobs have been added to the country’s employment pool – a slightly lower figure than the 315,000 positions reported in August.
Just last week, there was an upsurge in the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits. Also, the job market is still tight as companies have opted to freeze hiring due to surging interest rates.
