Gold at new high, set for best week in 5 months; crude oil steadies

Gold at new high, set for best week in 5 months 

Gold prices hit record highs for a fourth consecutive session on Friday on growing speculations over June interest rate cuts ahead of key US jobs data due later in the day. Spot gold rose 0.4 per cent to $2,168.28 per ounce as of 1057 GMT, while US gold futures added 0.5 per cent to $2,175.50.

Gold reached a new all-time high of $2,170.99 earlier in the session and has gained more than 4.1 per cent so far this week, setting it on track to post its biggest weekly percentage increase since mid-October.

“I think a lot of the demand that we’ve seen coming from is really in the paper market. It's just speculative demand,” said Michael Widmer, Bank of America’s head of Metals Research. “You always had good support from Chinese buying and central bank buying. But that was never enough to take prices high,” he added. Gold first surpassed its December peak on Tuesday, primarily aided by growing indications of cooling price pressures and bullion’s traditional safe-haven cachet.

Oil steadies as investors weigh US job data

Oil prices steadied on Friday as investors digested fresh US employment data, in the quest for clues as to whether interest rate cuts may occur in the US and Europe in the first half of this year. Brent crude futures were down a marginal 0.13 per cent, or 11 cents, at $82.85 a barrel by 1410 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 14 cents, at $78.79. 

US job growth rose by 275,000 new nonfarm payrolls in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, beating expectations of a 200,000 rise a Reuters survey said.