A better-than-expected report on U.S. hiring pushed gold slightly lower in Friday trading. The metal ended the week with a 1.7% loss.
The Labor Department said that the U.S. economy produced 203,000 new non-farm jobs in November, topping the 180,000 new hires forecast by economists. Federal Reserve officials have said a recovering job market is one factor that could prompt them to curtail the central bank’s monthly bond-buying in the near term.
Gold futures for February dipped 0.2% to $1,229 per ounce on Friday, according to . Gold traded as high as $1,245 and as low as $1,210.10. Bullion closed in London at $1,231, according to .
Silver futures for March delivery edged down 0.2% to $19.52 per ounce. Friday’s high for silver was $19.79, while the low was $19.17.
Metal funds moved slightly higher on Friday.
- The SPDR Gold Shares () rose 0.2%.
- The iShares Gold Trust () inched up 0.1%.
- The iShares Silver Trust () added 0.4%.
Mining ETFs were mixed during the day.
- The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF () was flat.
- The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF () fell 0.6%.
- The Global X Silver Miners ETF () increased 0.4%.
Gold stocks mostly faded on Friday.
- Agnico-Eagle Mines () slid 0.5%.
- Barrick Gold () dipped 0.2%.
- Eldorado Gold () rose 0.5%.
- Goldcorp () gained 1%.
- Kinross Gold () sank 0.7%.
- Newmont Mining () declined 0.8%.
- NovaGold Resources () dropped 1.3%.
- Yamana Gold () slipped 1.1%.
Silver mining shares were mixed during the day.
- Coeur d’Alene Mines () fell 1.3%.
- Hecla Mining () slid 0.4%.
- Pan American Silver () rose 0.5%.
- Silver Wheaton () climbed 1%.
- Silver Standard Resources () dropped 2%.
As of this writing, Christopher Freeburn did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of contributed to this report.
