Gold firms near one-month peak on softer dollar, slowdown worries

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Gold prices firmed on Friday to hover near

a one-month high, as a retreat in dollar and U.S. Treasury

yields and growing recession fears boosted demand, keeping the

safe-haven metal on track for its third straight weekly rise.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,793.88 per ounce, as of

0054 GMT, after hitting its highest since July 5 on Thursday.

Bullion is up 1.6% so far this week.

* U.S. gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,810.60.

* The dollar struggled to gain a footing on Friday after

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dropping 0.6% overnight against its rivals, making gold more

appealing for other currency holders.

* The yield on 10-year Treasury notes also

slipped, reducing the opportunity cost of holding non-interest

bearing gold.

* The Bank of England raised interest rates by the most in

27 years on Thursday in an attempt to smother surging inflation

on track to top 13%, even as it warned a long recession is

coming.

* The monthly U.S. non-farm payrolls report will be closely

watched on Friday that could offer more clarity on Federal

Reserve’s aggressive tightening plans to fight against

inflation.

* Economists expect an increase of 250,000 jobs for the

month of July. Meanwhile, data on Thursday showed the number of

Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased

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last week.

* China fired multiple missiles near Taiwan in its biggest

ever military drills in the Taiwan Strait after U.S. House of

Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-ruled

island.

* SPDR Gold Trust , the world’s largest gold-backed

exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.03 percent to

1,000.32 tonnes on Thursday.

* Spot silver rose 0.2% to $20.21 per ounce, platinum

gained 0.9% to $934.25, and palladium climbed 1.1%

to $2,086.68.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0600 Germany Industrial Output MM, YY June

0600 UK Halifax House Prices MM, YY July

0645 France Reserve Assets Total July

1230 US Non-Farm Payrolls July

1230 US Unemployment Rate July

(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi

Aich)