Singapore: Gold rose for a second straight session to trade near a three-week high on Monday, after U.S. jobs posted the slowest growth in more than a year, fuelling expectations the Federal Reserve could postpone an anticipated rate increase.
FUNDAMENTALS
Spot gold was up 0.6 percent at $1,217.66 an ounce by 0028 GMT, close to a three-week peak of $1,219.40 reached on March 26.
U.S. gold for June delivery climbed 1.4 percent to $1,218.20 an ounce. Spot palladium jumped 2.5 percent to $759 an ounce.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose 126,000 in March, less than half February`s pace and the smallest gain since December 2013, the Labor Department said on Friday. The tepid increase in payrolls ended 12 straight months of job gains above 200,000 - the longest streak since 1994.
The disappointing employment report could prod the U.S. central bank to delay a rate increase that analysts had expected to come in June or September amid signals from the Fed it was ready to tighten monetary policy in view of a strengthening labour market.
Canadian gold miner Barrick Gold said it has settled 11 claims related to atrocities committed against women over the last two decades at its Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea.
MARKET NEWS
Asian shares rose and the dollar dropped after a dismal U.S. jobs report pushed up U.S. Treasury yields as investors pared bets the Fed would hike interest rates anytime soon.
