NEW YORK (AFX) - Gold prices climbed Friday after U.S. jobs data came in weaker than anticipated.
Weak economic data pushed gold higher, as the yellow metal is regarded as a hedge against rising inflation; if the U.S. economy is seen to be losing strength, the Federal Reserve will be less likely to keep raising interest rates to curb inflation.
August gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $7.50 to settle at $641 an ounce, after rising as high as $644 an ounce.
July silver settled 18 cents higher at $12.085 an ounce.
The Labor Department reported Friday that job growth narrowed in May, with employers boosting payrolls by just 75,000 -- the smallest since October. Previous estimates showed a 138,000-job increase in April and a 200,000 gain in March. Market analysts had expected a growth of 170,000 for May.
Jay Brown, a senior derivatives specialist at Pro Edge Fx, a division of Infinity Brokerage, said a weak tone nevertheless remains prevalent in gold and silver, and that if gold fails to hold at current levels, it is likely to head down to a range of $606 to $613 an ounce.
Brown said silver is poised to test $11.20 to $11.44 an ounce.
While the market struggles to find its footing day-to-day, Tom O'Brien, an analyst for the Gold Report, said the correction in precious metals could be over soon.
'We had a nice shake-out today to $624 (in overnight trade) ... now it is building a floor,' said O'Brien who added that August gold could get back to the $681-an-ounce level 'in a heart beat.'
While the summer months could be a slow trading period for the precious metals, O'Brien contends that over the next month, August gold is likely to get as high as $685 an ounce.
Meanwhile, the most-active July copper contract rose 11.55 cents to settle at $3.5865 per pound.
Oil prices rallied more than $2 a barrel Friday on a wave of buying triggered by domestic and international supply worries. July crude oil rose $2.36 to a high of $72.70 a barrel, the highest intraday level for a front-month contract since May 11. The contract more than recovered losses sustained Wednesday and Thursday. July crude settled up $1.99 at $72.33 a barrel.
July gasoline settled up 7.03 cents at $2.1975 a gallon.
July heating oil settled up 4.38 cents at $2.0145 a gallon.
July natural gas rose 17.5 cents to settle at $6.623 a million British thermal units.
On the New York Board of Trade, July Arabica coffee ended 1.30 cents higher at $1.0125 a pound.
The most-active July cocoa contract settled down $15 at $1,461 per metric ton.
Raw sugar in foreign ports futures for July settled up 0.07 cent at 15.21 cents a pound.
On the Chicago Board of Trade, July corn gained 5 cents to $2.5950 per bushel. July soybeans ended 22.25 cents higher at $6.09 a bushel. July wheat ended up 11.75 cents at $4.0375 per bushel, above Thursday's 3-week low of $3.89.
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