Bullions end moderately higher

Gold ends higher for first time in six sessions

Bullion prices ended the U.S. day session moderately higher on Wednesday, 02 April 2014. Gold prices ended a losing streak that's spanned five sessions, with prices pushing higher as economic data mount ahead of the jobs report at the end of the week.

Gold for June delivery rose $10.80, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,290.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

May silver added 36 cents, or 1.8%, to $20.05 an ounce.

Once again, the gold market did not react much to U.S. economic data released Wednesday. The U.S. ADP national employment report released Wednesday showed a rise of 191,000 jobs in March. The number was slightly lower than expected, but still a decent number given recent month's jobs numbers.

The other report stated that factory orders increased 1.6% in February after falling a downwardly revised 1.0% (from -0.7%) in January. The consensus expected an increase of 1.1%. The upside surprise in factory orders was a result of stronger-than-expected nondurable goods orders. Nondurable goods orders increased 1.0% in February, which more than offset the 0.7% decline in January. Durable goods orders were unrevised from the advance report, up 2.2% in February after falling 1.4% in January. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders increased 0.1% in February, down from an originally reported 0.2% gain in the advance report.

Arguably the most important economic data point of the week and of the month is Friday's March U.S. employment report from the Labor Department. The key non-farm payrolls number is expected to be up 200,000.

In overnight news, the European Union's producer price index dropped 0.2% in February and was down 1.7% year-on-year. The year-on-year decline was the largest since late 2009 and is yet another element adding to the deflation concerns in the EU. The PPI report will put more pressure on the European Central Bank to ease its monetary policy in order to jumpstart economic growth in the EU. The ECB holds its monthly monetary policy meeting on Thursday, including a press conference from ECB president Mario Draghi. Most do not expect the ECB to make a major move on Thursday, but Draghi's comments at his press conference could very well give guidance on what the ECB will do in the coming weeks.

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