By Pablo Sinha
(Reuters) -Gold prices held steady on Friday, after falling over 1% earlier in the session, as traders boosted bets on a December U.S. interest rate cut following dovish Fed comments.
Spot gold was steady at $4,077.19 per ounce, as of 11:45 a.m. ET (1645 GMT), after falling more than 1% earlier in the session. Bullion is set for a weekly loss of 0.1% so far.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery rose 0.4% to $4,076.90 per ounce.
New York Fed President John Williams on Friday said the U.S. central bank could still trim interest rates in the near term, without jeopardizing its inflation goal.
The comments “are certainly supportive … it did give the gold market bulls some friendly fodder early today,” said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco Metals.
Traders now see a 70% chance of a rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting, compared to 46% earlier in the day.
The delayed jobs report showed a mixed labor market picture, with nonfarm payrolls rising by 119,000 in October, well above forecasts for a 50,000 gain, while the unemployment rate climbed to a four-year high.
Gold, a non-yielding asset, tends to do well in low-interest-rate environments.
Meanwhile, other Fed members maintained a hawkish stance, with Dallas Federal Reserve President Lorie Logan calling for leaving the policy rate on hold “for a time.”
Traders are also keeping a close eye on U.S. stock markets as “if the stock market rallies stronger today, that’s probably going to put downside pressure on gold because of the keener risk appetite in the marketplace,” Wyckoff added.
Wall Street’s main indexes opened higher on Friday on renewed U.S. rate cut hopes, with tech stocks stabilizing after last session’s rout. [.N]
Meanwhile, physical gold demand across major Asian markets remained weak this week, as volatility in rates deterred potential buyers from making purchases.
Elsewhere, spot silver fell 1.2% to $49.99 per ounce, platinum rose 1.2% to $1,529.00, and palladium dipped 0.4% to $1,372.44.
(Reporting by Pablo Sinha in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Alan Barona)
