8/09/2010 07:48:00 PM
Admin
US gold futures marched higher for the eighth consecutive day on Friday and kept sizeable weekly gains as investors bought the yellow metal after payrolls numbers showed a deletion of 131,000 jobs in July, more than expected and prior data. The dollar came under pressure after job reports which also boosted gold’s alternative investment demand.
Gold futures for December delivery, the most actively traded contract on Comex, gained $6, or 0.5%, to $1,205.30/oz.
Gold gained 1.8% on the week, its first positive week after three straight losing periods and only the second weekly gain in seven. Gold lost more than 5% in July, its worst month since December.
The dollar weakened further after disappointing payrolls data which showed more job losses in July.
The dollar index closed more than 0.5% lower at 80.407 on Friday. Equities were marginally down with gains in Asian stocks were offset by lower closing of European and US markets. The benchmark MSCI world index for stocks closed 0.06% down.
Total gold holdings in exchange traded funds remained same at 1469.80 MT, inclusive of 1282.75 MT in SPDR vaults. MCX gold futures for October delivery rose in line with their Comex counterparts and gained 0.5% higher at Rs. 18,200/10 gm on Friday.
