Gold registered its first notable gains for days as traders said weaker than expected jobs figures had seemingly scotched any chance the US’s loose monetary policies will end soon.
Equities markets tumbled on the non-farm payroll figures, which showed the US created just 88,000 jobs in March. It was the weakest monthly gain for ten months and well below forecasts of 200,000.
One of the key objectives behind the Federal Reserve’s policy is to cut unemployment and spot gold added US$13.30 today to US$1,567.3 after the jobs numbers, which followed a huge monetary stimulus programme unveiled by the Bank of Japan yesterday.
The prospect of central banks undermining paper currencies through excessive monetary easing has been one of the major drivers behind gold. After the jobs figures, the US dollar fell sharply against sterling and the euro.
Other precious metals also saw a bounce. Silver, which has been dragged down with the gold price, gained US$0.15 to US$27.08, while platinum added US$4 to US$1,522.
One of the drags on platinum has been a weak market for cars and commercial vehicles in Europe, the world’s largest market for the catalytic convertors that use platinum and its other group metals to control exhaust emissions.
Broker Investec today suggests this situation may be changing as legislative requirements tighten in Europe from next year.
Market movers
Randgold Resources up 186p at 5,346p
Fresnillo up 21p at 1,308p
Anglo American down 17p at 1,629p