UAE: Gold prices inch up, investors eye US jobs, inflation data

Gold inched higher on Thursday morning ahead of key US jobs and inflation data this week.

Spot gold was up 0.12 per cent at $1,854.97 per ounce at 9.13 am UAE time.

In the UAE, the 24K gold price inched up to Dh224.75 per gram as the market opened on Thursday, compared to Wednesday's close of Dh224.5 per gram.

While 22K, 21K, and 18K opened at Dh211.0, Dh201.5 and Dh172.75 per gram.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Wednesday the US was looking to "reconfigure" tariffs on Chinese imports but warned that such cuts would not be a "panacea" for easing high inflation.

The senior market analyst at Oanda, Jeffrey Halley, said with little movement in the US dollar overnight, gold remained sedated as well, closing almost unchanged at $1,853.35 an ounce.

In Asia, a slightly lower US dollar has seen gold crawl modestly higher to $1,855 an ounce. "It seems that like currency markets, we are going to have to wait for tomorrow's US Inflation data to create a directional move one way or the other."

He said: "Gold has resistance at $1,870, followed by the 100-DMA at $1,890, and then $1,900, where I expect there to be options-related sellers in the first instance. Support is at $1,837, $1,830, and then $1,780 an ounce. I do not discount a disorderly retreat if the latter fails. The wider $1,830 to $1,870 range seems set to continue until Friday."

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-waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE