Gold futures notched mild gains, silver lost 0.1% in electronic trading Friday

Gold futures notched mild gains in electronic trading Friday, with investors cautious ahead of a closely-watched U.S. employment report due for release later in the day.

Gold for February delivery added $2.70, or 0.2%, to $1,622.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange in Asian trading hours.

The rise extends a four-session gain for the metal, with buying in North American trading spurred as investors fled the euro amid fresh worries about contagion in debt-stricken Europe.

“The focus today will be the all-important non-farm payrolls data,” Ong Yi Ling, precious metals analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.

“It [is likely] to show the labor market continuing to recover. If we do see a positive figure, it could boost gold prices higher,” she said. “In general, a strong number should be positive for risk assets and for gold.”

Ong said trading is expected to remain subdued ahead of the jobs report.

“Investors could remain on the sidelines waiting for cues in the employment data.”

The broader metals complex traded mixed in Asian hours, with copper leading the gains in a choppy session.

Copper for March delivery  added 2 cents, or 0.7%, $3.45 a pound.

March silver lost 4 cents, or 0.1%, to $29.25 an ounce.

April platinum added 90 cents, or 0.1%, to $1,418.90 an ounce, while March palladium dropped $3.10, or 0.5%, to $641.30 an ounce. – MarketWatch

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Posted by admin on Jan 6 2012. Filed under Gold price. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry