Gold futures fell by nearly $20 U.S. an ounce on Friday, poised for their biggest one-day loss in more than a week, after the headline number in a closely-watched jobs report signaled stronger-than-expected employment trends.
The U.S. added 175,000 jobs in February, topping the 140,000 positions expected by economists. The unemployment rate rose to 6.7% from 6.6%, edging up because more people entered the labour force in search of jobs but not all of them found one.
Safety plays like gold and Treasurys fell sharply after the jobs report.
Gold for April delivery was last down $18.30, or 1.4%, to $1,333.50 U.S. an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was trading around $1,351 U.S., near Thursday’s settlement, immediately before the jobs data. For the week, prices held onto a gain of around 1%, based on the most-active contracts, according to FactSet data.
May silver sank 71 cents, or 3.3%, to $20.865 U.S. an ounce following a 1.4% climb a day earlier. Prices were down about 1.7% week to date.
Elsewhere in metals trading, April platinum lost $10.80, or 0.7%, to $1,476 U.S. an ounce, while March palladium fell $6.50, or 0.8%, to $774.65 U.S. an ounce.
High-grade copper for May delivery shed nearly 13 cents, or 3.9%, to $3.09 U.S. a pound.
