Commodity Market: Gold heads for best week since March ahead of US Non-Farm Payrolls data

Spot Gold traded little changed on Friday ahead of the highly anticipated US employment data that could offer insight into labor market conditions.

Still, the yellow metal was poised to register its best weekly performance since March, having risen 3.01% so far this week, as the US Dollar eased from 20-year highs and US Treasury yields moderated.

The official report on US Non-Farm Payrolls is due out at 12:30 GMT today, with market consensus pointing to 250,000 jobs likely added in September, following job growth of 315,000 in August.

“For gold prices, the downside is more open than the upside, simply for no other reason than that the Fed hasn’t pivoted yet,” Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“If we get a strong payrolls, gold goes down. If we get a weak payrolls, gold may go up to $1,725.”

This week, some disappointing macro data, including US job openings and manufacturing activity, coupled with a smaller-than-anticipated rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia reinforced hopes that the Federal Reserve might decelerate the pace of policy tightening.

Yet, Fed policy makers remain committed to bringing down inflation, which is still quite above the Federal Reserve’s target level of 2%.

As of 7:32 GMT on Friday Spot Gold was edging down 0.14% to trade at $1,710.34 per troy ounce. Earlier this week, the yellow metal went up as high as $1,729.59 per troy ounce, which has been its strongest price level since September 13th ($1,731.83 per troy ounce).

Gold futures for delivery in December were losing 0.11% on the day to trade at $1,718.90 per troy ounce, while Silver futures for delivery in December were gaining 0.59% to trade at $20.782 per troy ounce.

The US Dollar Index, which reflects the relative strength of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.20% to 112.037 on Friday. Earlier this week, the DXY slipped as low as 110.055, which has been its weakest level since September 20th (109.355).