Gold futures were up on Friday morning, aiming for a third straight gain and a weekly gain, on the back of a slide in benchmark Treasury yields, which compete with precious metals for safe-haven demand, and a steadying US currency, which has retreated from a three-month high a day earlier. The dollar was little changed, according to the ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, -0.07%, while the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, 1.462 percent was yielding 1.44 percent.
GCQ21, August gold, is up 0.50 percent.
If prices hold, GC00, +0.50 percent was trading $10, or 0.6 percent, higher at $1,786.70, marking the most-active futures’ highest settlement since June 16, according to FactSet data. Gold gained 0.3 percent on Thursday, marking its second consecutive gain. Commodity speculators may be looking forward to the monthly data on the U.S. labor market, which is expected to show a gain of 706,000 jobs in June, up from 559,000 the previous month, according to experts polled by Dow Jones. The employment report could have an impact on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy plans and cause gold to move. In the meantime, silver contracts for September delivery SIU21, +1.00 percent SI00, +1.00 percent were up 20 cents, or 0.8 percent, to approximately $26.30 an ounce, following a 0.4 percent fall on Thursday. Some analysts believe bullion has found some support as a result of mounting fears about the delta variant of COVID-19, which has slowed economic recovery in several countries. In a research note, Raffi Boyadjian, senior financial analyst at XM, said, “The precious metal may have found support in the fresh viral concerns that have impacted mood in Asia, however subdued long-term Treasury yields may also be holding up gold prices.” For the week, silver was expected to gain 0.9 percent, its second weekly gain in a row, while gold was expected to gain 0.5 percent, its second straight weekly gain./n
