Gold Prices Edge Up on Softer U.S. Dollar

Investing.com – Gold prices edged up on Monday in Asia as the U.S. dollar fell.

for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange traded 0.2% higher at $1,254.75 a troy ounce by 1:24 AM ET (05:24 GMT). 

The that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies was down 0.7% at 95.845.

A weaker dollar generally boosts commodities priced in the greenback as it makes it cheaper to users of other currencies. Lower bond yields can also be positive for commodities, which don’t offer a yield.

Gold prices were near at their highest level since July on Friday and notched up the largest weekly gain since August as the market turmoil bolstered safe-haven demand for the precious metal.

Wall Street ended its worst week since March on Friday amid a selloff triggered by concerns over a slowing economy. Asian markets also fell as tension between China and the U.S. rose following reports that China technology giant Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada last week and she now faces extradition to the United States.

Meanwhile, Markets have dialled back expectations on the pace of Fed rate hikes in 2019 in the wake of recent market turmoil.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said last week that U.S. interest rates were nearing neutral levels, which markets interpreted as signalling a slowdown in rate rises.

In other news, data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy created fewer-than-forecast new jobs in November, while October’s figure was revised lower.

Wage growth rose in line with forecasts, keeping the Fed on track to hike interest rates this month. But the report indicated that the labor market may not be as strong as hoped, easing pressure on the Fed to keep hiking rates in 2019.

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