• Gold held steady after hitting its highest in over six weeks earlier on Monday, buoyed as a disappointing U.S. jobs report appeared to dilute the prospects for an aggressive string of interest rate hikes in the United States.
Spot gold had risen 0.1 percent, to $1,281.40 per ounce by 0115 GMT. It hit a peak of $1,281.86 an ounce early in the session, its strongest since April 21.
U.S. gold futures for August delivery rose 0.3 percent to $1,283.4 an ounce.
• The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was flat in early Asian trading but not far from Friday's nadir of 96.654, its lowest since Nov. 9.
• Wall Street's top banks are united in the belief the Federal Reserve will raise U.S. interest rates when it meets in two weeks' time, but recent choppy data on the U.S. economy has created a division of opinion about what happens after that, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
• Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said on Friday that the U.S. central bank remains on track to meet its inflation goal and reiterated his support for a further two interest rate increases this year.
• After a militant attack on a nightlife district of London this weekend, British Prime Minister Theresa May will resume campaigning on Monday just three days before a national election which polls show is much tighter than previously predicted.
• Hedge funds and money managers raised their net long position in COMEX gold for the second straight week, hitting the highest level in nearly a month, and also raised it in silver, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.
• Gold’s renewed momentum, following a disappointing May jobs report, is expected to continue into next week with some analysts saying that $1,300 could be a viable target.
• Gold saw a major boost Friday after the release of a weaker-than-expected nonfarm payrolls report, which showed that 138,000 jobs were created in May, well below expectations for gains of 181,000 jobs.
August gold futures last traded at $1,279.60 an ounce, up 0.64% from last Friday, its fourth consecutive week of positive gains.
• The rally in gold helped push up the entire precious metals complex higher with palladium posting its highest price in almost two years; September palladium last traded at $835.45 an ounce, up more than 6% from last week. July Comex silver futures last traded at $17.505, up 1% from last week. Meanwhile, July Platinum was the only weaker metal, last trading at 953.60 an ounce, down almost 1% from the previous week.
• Looking ahead, analysts are optimistic that gold could continue to push higher on the back of a weaker U.S. dollar and falling bond yields. Following the employment report, the 10-year bond yield fell to its lowest levels of the year, last trading at 2.15%.
“The strong dollar story is suffering a slow death and that will be positive for gold,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. “Gold will continue to do well as it looks like the market is pricing out a third rate hike this year.”
• Lukman Otunuga, currency analyst at FXTM, also agreed that lower bond yields and a weaker U.S. dollar with be good for gold, adding that he is expecting prices to rally to $1,300 an ounce.
“Gold is poised to appreciate towards $1300 as Dollar weakness provides a firm foundation for bulls to initiate heavy rounds of buying. With expectations of the Federal Reserve raising U.S. rates beyond June taking a hit following May’s disappointing jobs report, the yellow metal is well supported,” he said.
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