RAW MATERIALS
Spot gold was steady at $5,187.39 an ounce by 0146 GMT. Bullion hit a more than three-week high on Tuesday. U.S. gold futures for April rose 0.2% to $5,204.10.
The dollar held steady near a three-week high, making gold denominated in dollars more expensive for holders of other currencies.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly over the past week, and the unemployment rate appeared to hold steady in February amid a stable labor market.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve chairman nominee Kevin Warsh’s path to outright rate cuts in line with President Donald Trump’s expectations could be narrowing amid emerging bullishness about the U.S. economy, CEOs’ growing confidence in the outlook and investors warding off an aggressive shift among central bank policymakers.
According to CME’s FedWatch Tool, markets are currently expecting three 25 basis point rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year.
Gold looks neutral in a range of $5,158 to $5,201 an ounce, and a breakout could suggest a direction, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said, adding that the bias could be upside, moving to $5,243 or much higher. In Geneva on Thursday, the US and Iran made progress in talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme, mediator Oman said, but hours of negotiations ended without any sign of a breakthrough that could avert potential US attacks amid a massive military build-up.
Spot silver rose 0.6% to $88.81 an ounce after climbing to a three-week high on Wednesday.
Platinum rose 0.6% to $2,286.53 an ounce, while palladium rose 0.5% to $1,794.13.
DATA/EVENTS
(GMT) 0745 France GDP QQ Latest Q4
0745 France CPI (EU standard) Provisional MM, YY Feb
0745 France CPI Prelim YY, MM NSA Feb
0745 France Producer prices YY Jan
0855 Germany Unemployment Chg, rate SA February
1100 France Unemp Class-A SA Jan
1300 Germany CPI Prelim YY Feb
1300 Germany HICP Prelim YY Feb
1330 US PPI Machine Production January
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