On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for October delivery traded at USD1605.05 a troy ounce in U.S. afternoon trade, down 0.46%.
Gold futures advanced 0.31% to a session high of USD1,619.45 earlier Wednesday.
Gold futures were likely to find near-term support at USD1,610.75 a troy ounce, the low from July 27, and resistance at USD1,629.25, Tuesday’s high.
Starting the gold selling, U.S. payroll processor ADP said the private sector added a seasonally adjusted 163,000 jobs in July, beating expectations for an increase of 120,000.
June’s figure was revised down to 172,000, slightly lower that the initial estimate of 176,000.
The upbeat data saw markets trim back expectations that the Federal Reserve would launch a third round of quantitative easing measures in the near-term, ahead of the conclusion of the central bank’s policy meeting later in the day.
Investors had interpreted signs of slowing U.S. economic growth as increasing the likelihood that the U.S. central bank would implement more easing measures to shore up the economic recovery.
Gold and the dollar trade inversely, and talk the Fed is considering more easing can weaken the greenback and drive investors to buy the precious metal.
The Institute for Supply Management was to produce a report on U.S. manufacturing activity later in the session, ahead of the Fed announcement.
Meanwhile, Thursday's European Central Bank meeting remained critical, amid growing concerns that the bank will disappoint expectations for bold steps to counter the debt crisis in the euro zone.
Expectations have been mounting that the ECB will announce measures to lower Spanish and Italian borrowing costs after the bank’s head Mario Draghi pledged last week to do whatever is necessary to preserve the euro.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for September delivery dropped 1.52% to trade at USD27.488 a troy ounce, while copper for September delivery plunged 1.25% to USD3.375 a pound.
Source: Forexpros
Posts
0 comments