New York, US (BBN) – Gold gained in Asia on Monday as investors eyed political risk elements with President Donald Trump’s administration on the back foot over its immigration and other policies.
The market is caught between a situation of “Trump-flation”, that is higher yields and stronger dollar, or “Donald Doubt,” which sees a softer dollar and lower yields due to protectionism and dollar jaw-boning, said Mizuho Bank’s Vishnu Varathan in a Monday note, reports Investing.com.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for March delivery rose 0.36 per cent to $1,225.15 a troy ounce.
Copper prices rebounded, up 0.73 per cent to $2.636 a pound as investors noted China’s services and awaited clarity on the labor situation at Chile’s Escondida mine where the government is playing a broker between management and workers over a strike threat on wages.
In China, the Caixin Services PMI stayed in expansion at 53.1, but missed the expected 53.6 level and was below the previous month figure of 53.4.
Last week, gold ended slightly higher on Friday, after the latest US jobs report showing weak wage growth last month dampened expectations for a faster rate of interest rate hikes this year.
The Labor Department said the US economy added 227,000 jobs in January from the prior month, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.8 per cent from 4.7 per cent in December, as more Americans joined the workforce.
But average hourly earnings rose 2.5 per cent in January from a year earlier, slowing from 2.8 per cent in December. The slowdown in wage growth prompted speculation that the Fed will avoid hiking interest rates too quickly.
In its latest monetary policy statement on Wednesday the Fed stuck to its view that the economy is strengthening, but gave no clear signal on the timing of its next rate hike as officials wait to assess the possible economic impact of the Trump administration’s protectionist policies and recent remarks about currencies.
BBN/SK/AD