Comments
Gold prices inched up early on Friday after hitting a 6-month low the session before, with the dollar retreating from an 11-month peak.
Spot gold was 0.1 per cent higher at $1,268.24 an ounce by 0057 GMT. It had touched its lowest since Dec. 19 at $1,260.84 on Thursday. US gold futures for August delivery were nearly unchanged at $1,270.20 per ounce.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, stood at 94.818. It had hit 95.529 in the previous session, its highest since mid-July 2017.
Unemployment claims
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, pointing to a further tightening in labour market conditions.
An increasingly shrill exchange of words between the United States and China that is threatening to trigger a global trade war has claimed another victim - Germany's auto sector.
China's commerce ministry had on Thursday accused the United States of being “capricious” over bilateral trade issues, and warned that the interests of US workers and farmers ultimately will be hurt by Washington's penchant for brandishing “big sticks”.
BoJ policy stance
Bank of Japan board member Yukitoshi Funo had said on Thursday that the central bank needs to patiently continue its strong monetary easing under the current policy, as slowing inflation keeps the BOJ's 2 per cent price target a distant objective.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.50 per cent to 824.63 tonnes on Thursday.
Gold buying
Russia produced 51.6 tonnes of gold in the first three months of 2018, up from 50.9 tonnes in the same period in 2017, the finance ministry had said on Thursday.
Hundreds of feet below thick boreal forest blanketing the Canadian Shield, a squad of near-silent, battery-powered machines are tunnelling toward gold in a multimillion-dollar mining experiment to ditch diesel.
Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp had on Thursday said it had agreed to buy a 5 per cent stake in the Yanacocha gold mine in Peru for $48 million, as it looks to boost its assets in the metals sector.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.