Investing.com - Gold prices gained in Asia on Thursday with regional data sets noted, particularly a rise in consumer prices in China.
In China consumer prices rose 0.5%, higher than the 0.4% gain seen in August and producer prices fell 5.9%, ore than the expected drop of 5.5% year-on-year.
Earlier, in Australia the overall unemployment rate fell to 6.2% as expected from from 6.3% and 11,500 jobs were added, compared to an expected 5,000 under a participation rate of 65% as seen.
Japan's corporate goods price index for August fell 0.6%, compared to a 0.4% fall seen month-on-month, while core machinery orders dipped 3.6% in July month-on-month, well off the 3.7% gain seen.
And the New Zealand dollar slumped in Asia on Thursday after the central bank, as expected, cut its overnight cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.75%.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for December delivery rose 0.33% to $1,105.60 a troy ounce, wjhile silver for December delivery fell 0.04% to $14.570 a troy ounce.
Copper for December delivery rose 0.39% to $2.432 a pound.
Overnight, gold futures fell sharply on Wednesday suffering its largest one-day fall in more than six weeks, amid a broadly stronger dollar and the introduction of further stimulus measures by China to rekindle its flagging economy.
In Beijing, China's finance ministry said it would introduce "more forceful" fiscal measures in order to boost slowing economic growth, which is projected to remain at the lowest level in more than a decade for the third quarter. The measures include a potential tax cut for small business, as well as the allocation of funding for infrastructure projects. As part of the proposal, the ministry approved two railway projects worth nearly 70 billion yuan or $11 billion.
“We will accelerate the implementation and improvement of proactive fiscal policy and related measures, do timely fine tuning, and speed up reform measures to support stable growth and promote continued healthy economic development,” the finance ministry said in a statement.
It came one day after China announced that its dollar-denominated exports fell sharply by 5.5% on a year-over-year basis in August, exacerbating concerns about persisting weakness in the world's second-largest economy. Imports, meanwhile, tumbled 13.8% on a yearly basis, producing a trade surplus of $60.24 billion. On Wednesday, theShanghai Composite index closed 2.3% higher extending gains from one session earlier. China is the world's largest producer of gold and the second-largest consumer behind India.
In the U.S., the Labor Department said on Wednesday in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that nationwide openings increased to a new series high in July, reaching a level of 5.8 million. The survey previously rose to a series-high in May when it reached a level of 5.4 million. The job openings rate surged 3.9% in July, after measuring at 3.6% the previous three months. It also came off the back of a mixed employment report for August on Friday when the labor market added 173,000 non-farm payrolls, while the unemployment rate dropped to 5.1%, its lowest level since April, 2008. The data could strengthen arguments from the hawks at the Federal Reserve for a September interest rate hike.
Gold, which is not attached to dividends or interest rates, struggles to compete with high-yield bearing assets in raising rate environments.
On Tuesday, World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu warned that a rate hike by the Fed next week could trigger a widespread crisis in emerging markets, pushing capital away from their economies and potentially creating sharp fluctuations in their currencies. Officials from the International Monetary Fund have issued similar warnings in recent weeks on the severe ramifications a rate hike could have on global markets that are not in the position to absorb a tightening of monetary policy from the U.S. central bank.
