The stronger US dollar has again given commodities a whack, with gold, oil, silver and copper all seeing falls on the way and the week.
The surprisingly strong US jobs report for October sent the greenback higher and choked off any early strength for commodities.
An estimated 271,000 new jobs were reported for last month and a further 12,000 added new jobs for the two preceding months – all bullish points, while wage growth picked up to around an annual rate of 2.5%, from just over 2%.
The US dollar jumped more than 1% against its major peers, with the Aussie dollar sliding 1.4% on the day to well under 70.50 US cents.
Gold though again took the brunt of the greenback’s rise.
In New York, Comex gold futures on Friday fell for a 7th trading session in a row and settled at their lowest level in more than three months.
December gold lost $US16.50, or 1.5%, to settle at $1,087.70 an ounce.
That was the lowest they have been since August 5. For the week, gold prices lost about 4.7%, the third straight week of declines.
Comex December silver also took a big hit, shedding 29.2 cents, or 2%, to $US14.691 an ounce.
Over the week, prices slumped 5.6%.
Gold fall on Friday was its 7th in a row, its longest such stretch of losses since July, when it dropped for 10 straight sessions. But it, like other markets, were mugged by the stronger than expected jobs report of 271,000 new jobs.
Economists say the jobs report means US rates will rise after the Fed meeting next month.
Comex December copper fell 1.3 cents, or 0.6%, to $US2.242 a pound – down 3.3% for the week and coming despite improving sentiment about China’s economy.
Meanwhile, oil futures finished lower on Friday, taking the weekly loss to almost 5%, after the stronger-than-expected US October jobs.
Not even figures showing a weekly fall in the number of active US rigs drilling for oil failed to offer support for oil prices (the number of rigs fell by 6 last week, the 10th successive weekly fall in oil rigs in use).
The US government’s rejection of the Keystone XL oil pipeline project from Canada failed to impact the oil market.
December West Texas Intermediate crude futures ended at $US44.29 a barrel in New York, down 91 cents, or 2%. Prices were down 4.9% for the week.
In London, December Brent crude futures lost 56 cents, or 1.2%, to $US47.42 a barrel – and were down more than 45 for the week.
