Gold prices rose after a report showed that U.S. employers added fewer workers than forecast last month, boosting demand for the precious metal as a haven.
Companies added 208,000 employees last month, figures from ADP Research Institute showed. That trailed the median forecast of 222,000 in a Bloomberg survey of economists. A whipsaw in crude-oil futures is spurring the biggest price swings for gold in almost nine months. Shanghai trading in the metal has topped last year’s record.
On Dec. 1, gold surged 3.6 percent, the most in 14 months, as oil rebounded from a five-year low. In November, the metal slumped to a four-year low as the dollar rallied and demand ebbed for an inflation hedge. Federal Reserve officials have said that lower energy prices may hold down consumer costs in the near term.
“Gold has got a slight support from the weaker ADP numbers, but I will still be a seller on rallies,” Tommy Capalbo, a broker at Newedge Group in New York, said in a telephone interview. “We will continue to see higher volatility in gold with oil and interest rate-hike uncertainty.”
Gold futures for February delivery rose 0.9 percent to $1,210 an ounce at 10:30 a.m. on the Comex in New York. The metal’s 60-day volatility climbed to the highest since March.
via Bloomberg
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Alfonso Esparza