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The gold price edged up on Friday as the US dollar declined after a weaker-than-expected US payroll report. Copper was on track for a weekly decline.
The gold price inched up on Friday (April 6) after the US dollar declined on the back of weaker-than-expected US payroll data. Concerns over a potential trade war between China and the US also supported prices.
“The payrolls report has provided a small boost to gold, but overall it’s had quite a dismal week,” Saxo Bank’s head of commodity strategy, Ole Hansen, said.
“[Gold] has really been struggling to get anything out of the heightened tensions we’ve seen on the trade front.”
The gold price increased earlier this week over fears of a trade war between China and the US, but declined to a one-week low on Thursday (April 5) after the countries signaled a willingness to negotiate.
“It’s also been a week where the dollar has shown its teeth a bit, bond yields have moved a tad higher and stocks at this stage are still trading up on the week. That has been a counter to the underlying geopolitical uncertainty we’re seeing,” Hansen added.
Late on Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that he had instructed US trade officials to consider US$100 billion in additional tariffs on China, fueling investors’ concerns and boosting demand for safe-haven assets such as gold.
As of 12:30 p.m. EST that day, the gold price was at US$1,334.50 per ounce.
Looking over to silver, the white metal was on track for a weekly gain, trading higher on Friday due to a weaker US dollar. As of 12:30 p.m. EST on Friday, the white metal was at US$16.46 per ounce.
On Friday, palladium was up 0.2 percent, trading at US$906.90 per ounce, while platinum declined 0.7 percent to trade at US$918.30 per ounce.
On the base metals side, LME copper was trading down 0.4 percent at US$6,788 a tonne. “Copper appears particularly sensitive to the geopolitical headlines,” Alastair Munro of Marex Spectron said.
Lastly, spot oil was under pressure on Friday, as the trade dispute between the US and China escalated.
May West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.5 percent to US$63.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for June on London’s ICE Futures exchange was flat at US$68.33 a barrel.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Priscila Barrera, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.