Singapore - Gold swung between gains and losses as investors weighed the prospects for increased physical demand against reduced monetary stimulus. Silver climbed.
Spot bullion traded at $1,246.32 an ounce at 2:47 p.m. in Singapore from $1,243.50 yesterday, after rising and falling at least 0.2 percent. The metal declined to $1,180.50 on June 28, the lowest since August 2010.
Gold slumped 23 percent in the second quarter as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said that the Fed may slow its asset purchases this year if the economy continues to improve.
Data on July 5 may show US employers added more jobs last month.
Physical gold purchases continue to increase and investors are seeing lower prices as “an opportunity to jump in,” Scott Carter, chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based Lear Capital, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
“Lower prices will induce some buying but any rally will be halted by a stronger dollar,” said Sun Yonggang, a macroeconomic strategist at Everbright Futures Co. in Shanghai.
“Investors are waiting for the payroll numbers, which will shape the next round of QE expectations,” Sun said, referring to the Fed’s program of quantitative easing.
Gold fell 0.7 percent yesterday as the dollar strengthened.
The US unemployment rate dropped to 7.5 percent last month, from 7.6 percent in May, as employers added 165,000 jobs, a survey showed before the July 5 Labor Department report.
Shanghai Volumes
The volume on the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s benchmark contract has topped 14,000 kilograms every day since June 25.
While that’s more than three times last year’s daily average, it’s less than half the all-time high of 43,272 kilograms on April 22, according to exchange data.
China was the largest consumer after India in 2012.
In Egypt, President Mohamed Mursi defied protests demanding his resignation, driving crude in New York past $100 a barrel for the first time since September.
That may be supportive for gold, Gary Dugan, chief investment officer for Asia and the Middle East at Coutts & Co., said in an interview today.
Assets in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest bullion-backed ETP, decreased to 964.69 metric tons yesterday, the least since 2009.
Global ETP holdings have contracted 22 percent this year, dropping 589.4 tons, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Gold for August delivery was little changed at $1,244 an ounce on the Comex after declining 1 percent yesterday as data showed orders placed with US factories rose in May.
US markets are closed tomorrow for Independence Day.
Silver for immediate delivery advanced 0.6 percent to $19.52 an ounce after sliding 1.2 percent yesterday.
Spot platinum slid 0.2 percent to $1,364.30 an ounce, falling for a second day.
Palladium rose 0.2 percent to $686.90 an ounce.
Anglo American Platinum, the world’s biggest producer of the metal, said it will start wage negotiations with labour unions in South Africa in August.
The talks will run at the same time as those about the company’s plans to eliminate 6,000 jobs at mines to help return to profit, said Thabisile Phumo, a spokeswoman for the Johannesburg-based company. - Bloomberg News