By Daksh Grover
(Reuters) – Gold prices were steady near one-week highs on Friday and on track for a small weekly rise, aided by a weaker dollar as investors awaited U.S. payrolls data to gauge the scale of a potential interest rate cut this month.
Spot gold was little changed at $2,518.34 per ounce at 1134 GMT, near a one-week high of $2,523.29 hit in the previous session. Bullion has added about 0.5% so far this week.
U.S. gold futures firmed 0.2% to $2,548.10.
“All eyes are now on payrolls and if the last month was a one-off blip due to Hurricane Beryl or a trend in slowdown in job additions,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.
“So expecting some volatility, but other indicators suggest still a slowdown in economic activity,” Staunovo said, adding that with the U.S. Federal Reserve expected to cut rates at all remaining meetings this year, this should support even stronger exchange-traded fund inflows over the coming weeks. [GOL/ETF]
Data on Thursday showed that U.S. private employers hired the fewest number of workers in 3-1/2 years in August. Attention is now on U.S. non-farm payrolls (NFP) data due at 1230 GMT.
“The apparent weakening of the U.S. labor market has raised hopes of faster interest rate cuts. Today’s U.S. labor market report could strengthen or dampen expectations accordingly,” Commerzbank said in a note.
Following the labour data this week, the chances of a 25-basis-point (bp) reduction by the Fed on Sept. 18 came down to 59% from about 70% a week before, while those of a bigger 50-bp reduction rose to 41% from 30% last week, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
New York Fed President John Williams and Fed board governor Christopher Waller will also deliver remarks later in the day.
Spot silver fell 0.1% to $28.78.
Platinum gained 0.5% to $928.98, while palladium rose 0.3% to $943.39 but was headed for a weekly loss.
(Reporting by Daksh Grover in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Swati Verma; Editing by Alexander Smith and Mark Potter)
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