Gold futures - Weekly outlook: April 8 - 12

              Gold futures ended sharply higher on Friday, as investors bought the precious metal after U.S. nonfarm payroll figures indicated the Federal Reserve will continue to support the fragile economic recovery in the U.S.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said recently that the central bank won't alter its aggressive monetary easing until it is convinced the economy's gains can be sustained.

Moves in the gold price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank could bring quantitative easing, one of the biggest boosts to gold’s bull run, to an end this year.
 
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery surged 1.8% on Friday to settle the week at USD1,580.65 a troy ounce. 

Gold prices were likely to find support at USD1,539.85 a troy ounce, the low from April 4 and an 11-month low and resistance at USD1,604.25, the high from April 2.

Gold prices found strong support after the U.S. Department of Labor said the economy added 88,000 jobs last month, the smallest increase since last June and far below forecasts for an increase of 200,000. 

The data also showed that the unemployment rate ticked down to 7.6% from 7.7% in February, but the decline stemmed from more people dropping out of the labor force. The participation rate fell to 63.3%, the lowest level since 1979. 

The dismal jobs report fuelled fears that the recovery in the labor market is losing momentum, easing recent jitters the Fed would start to withdraw its super easy monetary policy.

The central bank previously stated that monetary policy will remain accommodative “at least as long” as the jobless rate remains above 6.5%.

Despite Friday’s strong gain, Comex gold futures prices posted a loss of 1% on the week. 

On Thursday, Comex gold prices fell to an 11-month low as a bout of technical selling kicked in after prices broke below key support levels, triggering fresh sell orders amid bearish chart signals.

In the week ahead, investors will be awaiting Wednesday’s minutes of the Federal Reserve’s March policy meeting for further hints on the future of its monetary policy.

Market participants will also be watching data on industrial production from Germany and the euro zone amid concerns over the deteriorating economic outlook for the region.

Sentiment on the euro remained fragile amid ongoing concerns over the situation in Cyprus and ongoing political uncertainty in Italy.

Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for May delivery rallied 1.9% on Friday to settle the week at USD27.26 a troy ounce. Despite Friday’s strong performance, silver future prices lost 3.5% on the week. 

Comex silver fell to USD26.58 a troy ounce on Thursday, the lowest since July 12. Silver has been on the decline given “weak industrial demand and mixed investor interest,” analysts at Barclays wrote in a research note Friday.

Meanwhile, copper for May delivery shed 0.2% on Friday to close the week at USD3.345 a pound. On the week, Comex copper prices lost 0.7%. 

Comex copper prices fell to an eight-month low of USD3.306 a pound on Thursday.

Copper traders will be looking ahead to a flurry of Chinese economic reports due later in the week to further gauge the strength of the world’s second largest economy and the largest consumer of the red metal.
Courtesy : Investing.com