Gold Rises to $1,248.46 per Ounce Monday

Gold increased 0.1 percent, or $1.248, to $1,248.46 an ounce Monday. Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payroll figures showed employers had hired the fewest workers in nearly three years in December 2013. This information spurred hopes among investors that the U.S. Federal Reserve would keep interest rates lower for a longer period of time.

“Macroeconomic factors and the dollar are still the driving forces for gold and that’s also evident from the price rebound on Friday . . . we still react to the U.S. data headlines more than anything else,” VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov told Reuters.

U.S. gold futures for February delivery also rose, up $1.20 an ounce to $1,248.30, Reuters reported.