TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsGold edges lower on firmer dollar after strong US jobs data
Gold prices dipped on Thursday, as the U.S. dollar firmed after stronger-than-expected January jobs data dented expectation for near-term interest rate cuts, while investors awaited inflation data due on Friday for more monetary policy cues.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
An employee holds up packets of gold bullion on Oct. 15, 2025, at an outlet of Butik Emas LM Antam, a public gold vendor operated by state-owned miner PT Aneka Tambang (Antam), located inside the Setiabudi One shopping mall in South Jakarta. (Antara/Reno Esnir)
Gold prices dipped on Thursday, as the U.S. dollar firmed after stronger-than-expected January jobs data dented expectation for near-term interest rate cuts, while investors awaited inflation data due on Friday for more monetary policy cues.
Spot gold edged 0.3 percent lower to $5,065.98 per ounce by 0318 GMT. It closed Wednesday with a more than 1% gain.
US gold futures GCcv1 for April delivery lost 0.2 percent to $5,087.30 per ounce.
"The stronger jobs report leading to a slight pare back in Fed rate-cut expectations may have played a role in gold's lackluster move," said Christopher Wong, a strategist at OCBC.
The US dollar index rose following the surprisingly strong employment report that suggested underlying US economic health. A stronger dollar makes greenback-priced metals more expensive for other currency holders.
"Sensitivity to the dollar, yield repricing, and uncertainty around Fed policy should continue to pose two-way risks for gold in the interim," Wong said.
US job growth unexpectedly accelerated in January and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent, though the largest increase in payrolls in 13 months likely exaggerates the labor market's health, as revisions showed the economy added only 181,000 jobs in 2025 instead of the previously estimated 584,000.
The US budget deficit will grow slightly in fiscal 2026 to $1.853 trillion, the Congressional Budget Office forecast on Wednesday, showing that on balance, President Donald Trump's economic policies are worsening the country's fiscal picture amid low economic growth.
The Federal Reserve will keep rates unchanged through Chair Jerome Powell's term ending in May but cut immediately afterward in June, a Reuters poll showed, with economists warning that policy under his likely successor, Kevin Warsh, could become too loose.
Investors now await the weekly jobless claims report on Thursday and inflation data on Friday for more cues on the Fed's monetary policy path.
