Daily Gold Update

Source: Dr. Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold gained for the first time in more than a week, edging up slightly to close at $1,244.50, as the U.S. dollar and equities markets backed off from recent rallies. With traders awaiting Friday's U.S. non-farm payrolls data, the Dow and S&P 500 both finished slightly lower following several sessions of new record highs.

Jobs gains above consensus forecasts of around 220,000 in Friday's report could trigger a resumption of risk appetite and propel stock indices to new highs. Below-forecast gains may prompt traders to take further profits, which would likely help gold to regain its footing after falling as much as 4% over the last six sessions.

The dollar pulled back against the euro and other major rivals as forex traders hedged their bets that the ECB will announce deeper monetary easing this week to stimulate the flagging eurozone economies and combat deflation in the region. A softer dollar supports higher prices for gold and silver because the metals are denominated in dollars for international trade and become less expensive to holders of other currencies.

The other precious metals were mostly higher, with silver picking up 0.1% and palladium adding 0.5% while platinum shed 0.2%.

At the Comex close: August edged up 50 cents to $1,244.50; July silver added 2 cents, to close at $18.76; July platinum shed $3.20 to $1,433.50; and September palladium pickd up $4.05 to $836.70 an ounce.