Gold rises $5 to new 10-day high despite lack of physical demand
Spot gold prices continued Thursday's rally early Friday, opening London above $663 per ounce and then rising above $665 as the Wall Street open drew near.
Gold priced in Pounds Sterling broke £336, a new 10-day high.
Priced versus the Euro gold hit €495 per ounce.
"The fact gold has managed to stay above $650 an ounce has given some confidence to the spot gold market," reckons David Moore, a strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
"One of the reasons that might prevent a break of the $650 level could be an increase in physical demand. So far however that hope hasn't materialized," says Wolfgang Wrzesniok in today's weekly metals report for Heraeus, the German refining group.
"Our colleagues in Hong Kong report that despite the already lower prices, buying interest is still fairly muted."
A lack of demand is to be expected in India right now. The world's No.1 destination for physical gold just ended the traditional spring wedding season.
That's why gold's upward move in June "may not be all that great, because the physical market is in its lean season," said an analyst from IL&FS InvestSmart in Mumbai to the Economic Times earlier.
Even so, Indian investors raised their open interest in Mumbai's August gold contract by 0.8% overnight, taking the total to 9,504 lots.
"Looking forward it could potentially be a volatile period for gold," says Moore at Commonwealth Bank, "depending upon how the Dollar reacts to data releases in the US, particularly tonight."
The much-watched non-farm payroll numbers are due out at lunchtime in Washington.
This week's numbers so far paint a very mixed picture for the future of US economic growth – weighed down by the slump in real estate but also facing fast-rising inflationary pressures.
What might it mean for US interest rates, the Dollar, and – by extension – the price of gold? Click here to read more now...