Prices for gold futures contracts stabilized at the close of the previous session, as markets absorbed data showing labor market flexibility in the world’s largest economy, despite the Federal Reserve’s tight monetary policy.
Gold futures prices for February delivery settled at $2049.8 per ounce, having fallen to $2030.80 during trading, ending a three-week winning streak after a decline of more than 1% since the beginning. of the week.
The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US dollar against a basket of 6 major currencies, settled at 102.49 points during the previous day’s trading after previously rising during trading to 103.10 points.
According to official data released, the US economy added 216,000 non-farm jobs in December, compared to expectations of adding 170,000 jobs. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7%.
According to the “FeedWatch” tool, markets indicate that there is a 93.3% probability that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates during the current January meeting, with expectations of the US central bank’s reduction in costs declining of loans by 25 basis points during the March meeting to 62.1% from 73.4% the previous week.
