Gold struggles for momentum as investors focus on US jobs data

Gold prices were little changed on Thursday as investors stayed away from making big bets ahead of U.S. payrolls data that could provide further clues on the size of an expected rate cut this month.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was unchanged at $2,494.54 per ounce, as of 0054 GMT. U.S. gold futures were little changed at $2,524.50.

* Non-yielding bullion tends to perform well when interest rates are low. It is also considered a hedge against economic and political uncertainties.

* Data overnight showed that U.S. job openings dropped to a 3-1/2-year low in July, suggesting the labour market was losing steam, but the reduction on its own is probably not enough to warrant a half-percentage-point rate cut by the Federal Reserve this month. * Traders raised the odds of a 50-basis-point rate cut at the Fed’s Sept. 17-18 meeting to 44% from 38%, as per the CME FedWatch Tool. The U.S. nonfarm payrolls data due on Friday is pivotal for Fed expectations. * The ADP employment report, a reading on the U.S. services industry, and jobless claims data due later in the day are also on radar. * The U.S. central bank must not keep rates too high much longer or it risks causing too much harm to employment, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said on Wednesday.

* Spot silver fell 0.1% to $28.244 per ounce, platinum gained 0.7% to $908.60 and palladium was flat at $933.75.

* South Korea’s Posco Future said that it is suspending a plan to build a new battery materials factory with China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt in South Korea, citing slowing demand for electric vehicles.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0600 Germany Industrial Orders MM July

0600 Germany Manufacturing O/P Cur Price SA July

0600 Germany Consumer Goods SA July

0830 UK S&P Global PMI: MSC Composite – Output August

1230 US Initial Jobless Clm 31 August, w/e

1345 US S&P Global Comp Final PMI August

1345 US S&P Global Svcs PMI Final August

1400 US ISM N-Mfg PMI August