Gold extended losses on Monday, falling to the lowest level after the US payrolls data showed signs that the US economy is accelerating, boosting the US dollar and expectations the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates sooner than expected.
Bullion futures for December delivery fell 0.35% to $1,188.80 per ounce, while futures for the silver metal declined 0.25% to $16.785 an ounce. The yellow metal is headed for its first back-to-back annual loss since 2000, following last year’s 28% drop. Gold’s net-long position dropped 15% to 37,743 futures and options in the week ending Sept 30, according to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.
Holdings in the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, fell to 767.47 tons on Friday, the lowest since December 2008.
The US Dollar index, measuring the strength of the greenback against a basket of six major peers, dropped 0.10% to 86.6040.
US Jobs Data
Payrolls in the world’s largest economy increased 248,000 in September, compared to the market forecast of 215,000 and the previous figure of 180,000 seen in August,, a report from the US Labour Department showed on Oct 3. The report also showed that the jobless rate fell to 5.9% from 6.1% in August, the lowest since July 2008.
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With the upbeat report released, the market are expecting the Federal Reserve to increase interest rate sooner than expected which could strengthen the US dollar and hurt the yellow metal as there is an inverse correlation between dollar priced commodities and the dollar.
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