By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Friday morning in Asia, widening its weekly losses. A stronger dollar outweighed safe-haven demand driven by the little progress made in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and investors await the latest U.S. jobs report for clues on U.S. monetary policy moving forward.
Gold futures fell 0.63% to $1,937 by 1:03 AM ET (5:03 AM GMT) and has lost about 1.1% for the week to date. The dollar, which normally moves inversely to gold, edged up higher from a nearly one-month low on Friday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened on Thursday to halt contracts supplying Europe with a third of its gas unless they are paid in Russian roubles. This is his strongest economic comeback to date to the Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
In Asia Pacific, China’s Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) was 48.1 in March 2022. Japan’s Tankan Large Manufacturers Index at 14, and the Tankan Large Non-Manufacturers Index at 9, for the first quarter of 2022.
Down Under in Australia, March’s Australian Industry Group manufacturing index was at 55.7 and the manufacturing PMI at 57.7.
Investors now await the latest U.S jobs report, including non-farm payrolls, due later in the day. The figures could also provide a clue to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s future monetary policy.
Russian gold and foreign currency reserves fell to $604.4 billion as of Mar. 25, their lowest since August 2021, according to data from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia). This is a drop from the $643.2 billion figure from before the invasion of Ukraine.
In other precious metals, silver edged up 0.2%. Platinum inched up 0.1% and palladium rose 0.9%, but both metals are set for a fourth consecutive weekly loss.