Gold lower as tapering talk escalates

                         Gold futures traded slightly lower in the early part of Friday’s Asian session, extending losses from Thursday’s U.S. session, as traders dealt with lingering fears of Federal Reserve tapering. 

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery fell 0.24% to USD1,327.40 per troy ounce in Asian trading Friday. The December contract settled lower by 2.43% at USD1,330.60 per ounce on Thursday. 

Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,315.40 a troy ounce, the low from Aug. 14, and resistance at USD1,416.30, Tuesday's high.

The Federal Reserve kicks-off a two-day meeting on September 17 and with fears of a U.S. military strike against Syria waning, traders appear to be betting that the Fed will move forward with plans to taper its USD85 billion-per-month bond-buying program. Expectations are in place that the U.S. central bank will trim its monthly purchases by USD10 billion. 

Monetary stimulus programs such as Fed asset purchases weaken the dollar to spur recovery, which makes gold an attractive hedge. 

Some decent jobs data seemed to affirm the notion that tapering is imminent. In U.S. economic news out Thursday, initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 31,000 to 292,000 last week. Economists expected a reading of 330,000 claims. The less volatile four-week moving average fell to 321,250 from 328,750. That is the lowest reading since October 2007. 

Elsewhere, Comex silver for December delivery fell 0.72% to USD21.990 per ounce while copper for December delivery rose 0.13% to USD3.210 per ounce. - investing.com