By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Friday morning in Asia, but held steady as investors refrained from making big bets ahead of the latest U.S. jobs report.
Gold futures inched down 0.03% to $1,758.60 by 12:22 AM ET (4:22 AM GMT), down about 0.3% so far in the week. The dollar, which usually moves inversely to gold, inched up on Friday but remained below a one-year high.
The U.S. jobs report, which includes non-farm payrolls, is due later in the day and could impact the U.S. Federal Reserve’s timetable to begin asset tapering. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said in September that there was broad agreement among policymakers to begin asset tapering as soon as November 2021, as long as the jobs report for September was “decent.”
The number of initial jobless claims filed during the past week also dropped to 326,000, the most in three months, and indicated further recovery in the country’s job market.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate on Thursday approved legislation to temporarily raise the federal government’s $28.4 trillion debt limit and avoid the risk of default within the month. It will put off a longer-term solution until early December 2021.
In Asia Pacific, the Reserve Bank of India will hand down its policy decision later in the day.
China’s Caixin services purchasing managers index for September released earlier in the day, was a better-than-expected 53.4. The country also held 62.64 million fine troy ounces of gold at the end of September 2021, unchanged from August, according to official data released on Thursday.
In other precious metals, silver fell 0.4%, while platinum edged up 0.2% and palladium eased 0.4% to $1,951.93.