WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold edged higher on Friday and the dollar weakened following Thursday's hawkish shift from the European Central Bank.
Spot gold rose 0.4 percent to $1,812.83 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures were up half a percent at $1,813.85.
The dollar index is on track for around a 2 percent weekly slide, its worst performance since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, after the Bank of England hiked rates in its first back-to-back rise since 2004, and the European Central Bank signaled a more urgent path towards hiking rates for the first time in a decade.
Investors look ahead to the Labor Department's closely-watched monthly jobs report, due later in the day for an update on the recovering U.S. jobs market.
Economists expect employment to rise by 150,000 jobs in January after an increase of 199,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.9 percent.
Markets are now factoring in as many as five U.S. rate hikes this year, with a sixth one staring to gain traction for later in the year.
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