SINGAPORE, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Gold inched down on Monday,
extending losses from the previous session when an unusually
good U.S. employment data took some urgency out of additional
stimulus measures, dampening the sentiment in bullion.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold edged down 0.2 percent to $1,777.89 an
ounce by 0034 GMT, after a 0.6-percent gain in the previous
week.
* U.S. gold was little changed at $1,780.10.
* The U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to 7.8
percent in September and reached its lowest level since
President Barack Obama took office, providing a boost to his
re-election bid.
* Speculators raised their net length in U.S. gold futures
and options to 195,647 contracts in the week ended Oct. 2, its
highest since end of February.
* The European Central Bank envisions buying large volumes
of sovereign bonds for a period of one to two months once its
“OMT” programme is launched, but would then suspend purchases
during an assessment period, senior central bank sources told
Reuters.
* German Chancellor Angela Merkel will make her first visit
to Greece next week since the euro zone debt crisis erupted, in
a show of support for Athens after it said it would run out of
money at the end of November without fresh international aid.
* The labour strife in South Africa’s mining sector
escalated as the world’s top platinum producer Anglo American
Platinum fired 12,000 wildcat strikers, and a trade union leader
was shot dead near a mine run by platinum producer Lonmin.
* Spot platinum lost 0.9 percent to $1,688.99.
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MARKET NEWS
* The S&P; 500 broke a four-day string of gains, ending
slightly lower on Friday as an unexpected drop in the U.S.
unemployment rate was overshadowed by concerns about the coming
earnings season.
* The dollar inched higher against a basket of currencies on
Monday, after improving U.S. employment data lifted sentiment.
DATA/EVENTS
0230 China HSBC services PMI for September
0600 Germany Trade data for August
0830 Euro zone Sentix index for October
1000 Germany Industrial output for August
European Central Bank and Federal Reserve hold conference
in Frankfurt (to Oct. 10)
PRICES
Precious metals prices 0034 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume
Spot Gold 1777.89 -2.59 -0.15 13.69
Spot Silver 34.46 -0.01 -0.03 24.45
Spot Platinum 1688.99 -15.18 -0.89 21.25
Spot Palladium 652.97 -2.93 -0.45 0.07
COMEX GOLD DEC2 1780.10 -0.70 -0.04 13.61 2702
COMEX SILVER DEC2 34.52 -0.05 -0.15 23.66 742
Euro/Dollar 1.3005
Dollar/Yen 78.64
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months
(Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
