RAW MATERIALS
* Spot gold held steady at $4,207.56 an ounce as of 01:04 GMT. * US gold futures for December rose 0.1% to $4,237.50 an ounce.
*U.S. private payrolls fell by 32,000 jobs in November, Wednesday’s ADP employment report showed, missing economists’ expectations of a 10,000 job gain.
* CME’s FedWatch tool now shows an 89% chance that the US central bank will cut rates next week, with major brokers also predicting a rate cut at the December 9-10 policy meeting.
* Investors are still waiting for the delayed September Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, due Friday for further insight into the central bank’s monetary policy. * The dollar hit a five-week low on Thursday as weaker-than-expected economic data reinforced expectations that the Fed will cut rates at its meeting next week.
*Lower interest rates tend to favor non-yielding assets like gold.
* Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he plans to announce his choice to replace Jerome Powell as Fed chairman early next year.
* SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.16% to 1,046.58 tonnes on Wednesday, down from 1,048.29 tonnes on Tuesday.
* Elsewhere, silver fell 0.2% to $58.39 an ounce, platinum lost 0.8% to $1,657.70, while palladium fell 0.9% to $1,446.50.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0930 UK S&P GLOBAL PMI: MSC COMPOSITE – OUTPUT Nov
1330 US initial unemployed Clm Nov 29
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