Gold Climbs to 2-Week High on U.S. Jobs as China Resumes Buying.
Bullion for immediate delivery rose as much as 0.7 percent to $1,276.03 an ounce, the highest level since Jan. 27 and surpassing its 100-day moving average of $1,267.43, before trading at $1,273.41 at 3:11 p.m. in Singapore. Prices advanced 1.8 percent last week as a rout in emerging markets spurred haven demand. They are up for a fourth day today. Silver added 0.7 percent to $20.1633 an ounce, climbing for a seventh day.
Gold beat all other metals on the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of 24 raw materials this year as a selloff from bullion-backed exchange-traded products lost momentum. Data on U.S. employment growth trailed forecasts last week, sending the Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Index lower for a fifth day, as investors reassessed the Federal Reserve’s plan to cut stimulus. China’s demand expanded to a record last year, surging 41 percent, according to data from the China Gold Association today.
“Data continues to point to an uneven U.S. recovery, and coupled with the selloff in emerging markets, gold and silver are benefiting from increased demand for safer assets,” said Zhu Siquan, an analyst at GF Futures Co., a unit of the Guangzhou-based firm that bought Natixis Commodity Markets Ltd. last year. “Whether gold can sustain the recent upward momentum depends on economic data and how the dollar, equities and other markets interpret and react to those numbers.”
China’s Demand
Volumes for the benchmark contract on the Shanghai Gold Exchange climbed to a one-month high on Feb. 7, when the market reopened after a weeklong break. Demand in China, which probably overtook India as the world’s largest user last year, surged to 1,176.4 metric tons in 2013, the China Gold Association said.