WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures settled lower on Friday as the dollar turned in a slightly volatile performance with investors assessing the likely move of the Fed with regard to interest rates after the release of the non-farm payroll data for the month of August.
The dollar index, which dropped to 100.58 after the release of the jobs data, recovered to 101.40 but fell again. After easing to 100.75, the index recovered to 101.20, recording a marginal gain.
Gold futures for September ended down $17.90 or about 0.7% at $2,493.50 an ounce. Gold futures recorded a marginal loss in the week.
Silver futures for September ended down $0.912 or about 3.2% at $27.808 an ounce. Silver futures lost 3.2% in the week.
Copper futures for September dropped to $4.0100 per pound, down $0.0675 from the previous close.
The U.S. Labor Department released a report showing employment in the world's largest economy rose by less than expected in the month of August.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 142,000 jobs in August compared to economist estimates for an increase of 160,000 jobs.
The report also said the increases in employment in June in July were downwardly revised to 118,000 jobs and 89,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 86,000 jobs.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate edged down to 4.2% in August from 4.3% in July.
Following the data, the chances of a 25-basis-point reduction by the Fed this month came down to 59% from about 70% a week earlier, while those of a bigger 50-bp reduction rose to 41% from 30% last week, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
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