Gold prices dropped to their lowest finish in about four months on Friday night, adding to yet another weekly loss, off the back of the larger than expected new jobs gains for the US economy for June.
Silver dropped to a 16 month low after a trading incident in Asian time saw a sharp slump and rebound.
The 220,000 new jobs for June and more jobs for May offset a small rise in the jobless rate to 4.4% from 4.3% because people joined the labour force looking for work in the month – which was another positive. So the chances of a third Fed rate rise this year rose ahead of chair Janet Yellen’s testimony to Congress this week.
The payrolls data “brought negative news for gold traders as the number from the outset looks acceptable,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at ThinkMarkets in the UK.
“There isn’t really anything in this number which is going to put the brakes” on the Federal Reserve’s plans for more interest-rate hikes this year, he was quoted as telling Marketwatch.com.
As a result, Comex August gold futures dropped $US13.60, or 1.1% on Friday, to settle at $US1,209.70 an ounce, the lowest since mid-March.
That saw prices down 2.6% over the shortened trading week, and the fifth weekly fall in a row.
Comex silver prices survived a brief slide in Friday’s Asian trading session with futures plunging nearly 10%, before rebounding quickly as traders put the volatility down to a flash crash or trading mistake.
But September silver lost 55.8 cents, or 3.5%, to end at $US15.425 an ounce, after an earlier low at $US14.34.
Silver settled at a level not seen since April of last year. For the week, it was down a rather large 6.9%. And Comex September copper fell down 1.5 cents, or 0.5%, to $US2.647 a pound, for a loss of 1.9% on the week.
And Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures ended the week down 4 cents a bushel at $US4.35, but up nearly 2% from the previous Friday’s close of $US5.26 a bushel.
