Gold on track to achieve weekly gains ‎

Gold prices rose today, Friday, as investors await US jobs data, which may confirm the direction of the recent economic slowdown, and the decline in expectations of raising interest rates, which put gold on the path to achieving gains for the second week in a row.

According to “Reuters”, spot gold increased 0.2% to $1943.80 an ounce by 1008 GMT, and is heading for a weekly gain of 1.5% after prices touched their highest levels in a month on Wednesday. US gold futures increased 0.2 percent to $1,970.40.

The non-farm payrolls report in America is scheduled to be released at 1230 GMT, which comes after data during the week showed that job openings reached the lowest level in two and a half years in July and that the economy grew at a slightly slower pace than expected in the quarter. The second…

US bond yields are heading to end the week down about three percent, while the dollar is heading to end a six-week series of gains, as the slowdown in monthly inflation has reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) will keep interest rates unchanged this month.

Gold, as a non-yielding asset, tends to lose its appeal among investors when interest rates rise

As for other precious metals, silver rose in spot transactions by 0.8% to $24.62 per ounce, and platinum increased by 0.9% to $976.61. Both metals are heading for weekly gains.