Gold prices advanced on Thursday as the dollar weakened after flirting with 10-week highs in the previous session on the bullish private jobs report.
Gold futures for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 0.4% at $1,219.8 a troy ounce by 1:20 AM ET (05:20 GMT).
The U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies inched down 0.1% to 96.70. The dollar traded near 16-month highs on Wednesday after data showed the private payrolls grew by 227,000 for the month, above the 218,000 seen in September and economists’ forecasts of 189,000.
Gold posted a 2% gain for October, its highest since January. Just last week, it was headed for a monthly gain of nearly 4%.
Despite last month’s gain, Gold prices have slipped about 11% from their April peak as investors turned to the dollar as a safe-haven amid escalating trade concerns between the U.S. and China. Early bets for a widely-expected Federal Reserve rate hike in December, which would be the fourth for the U.S. this year, also buffeted the dollar at gold’s expense.
A stronger dollar makes dollar-denominated bullion more expensive for users of other curre
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