Gold rallied on Monday morning in Asia, with investors continuing to look at mixed US reports and weigh its impact on the US Federal Reserve's next move. Ky.
Gold futures inched 0.01% to $1,784.15 by 10:53 PM ET (3:53 AM GMT). The dollar, which usually moves inversely with gold, rose on Monday.
The US jobs report, released on Friday, was mixed. Nonfarm payrolls came in at 210,000 in November, below the 550,000 forecast by Investing.com and the previous month's 546,000. unemployment rate fell to 4.2%, the lowest level in 21 months.
Separate data showed the ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI came in at a better-than-expected 69.1 in November, a record high.
Despite an indication that businesses are ramping up hiring, prices remain high and there is little sign that the supply bottleneck will ease.
The Fed is likely to accelerate its asset contraction when it meets at the end of the month, in response to a tightening labor market. This could also lead to an earlier-than-expected rate hike.
The possibility of an interest rate increase is also of interest across the Atlantic. Michael Saunders, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, is awaiting more information on the new COVID-19 omicron variant before deciding how to vote at the central bank's meeting later this month. Saunders voted to raise rates in November.
In Asia Pacific, the Reserve Bank of Australia will deliver its latest policy decision on Tuesday, followed by the Reserve Bank of India a day later.
In other precious metals, silver was up 0.3 percent, platinum was up 0.8 percent and palladium was up 0.7 percent.
