Investing.com - Gold prices posted strong gains on Wednesday as bargain hunters snapped up nicely priced positions in the commodity and ended a five-day losing streak.
Long-running expectations for the Federal Reserve to wind down stimulus programs that have supported gold in the past sent prices ripe for bottom fishing.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for June delivery was up 0.86% at $1,291.00, off a session high of $1,294.80 and up from a low of $1,278.80
The June contract settled down 0.30% at $1,280.00 on Tuesday.
Gold futures were likely to find support at $1,278.10 a troy ounce, Tuesday's low, and resistance at $1,343.00, the high from March 21.
Weeks of solid economic indicators have sent gold prices falling on the notion that the Federal Reserve remains on track to wind down its monthly bond-buying program this year.
The program, currently set at $55 billion a month, aims to spur recovery by suppressing long-term borrowing costs, weakening the dollar as a side-effect and making gold an attractive hedge.
Payroll processing firm ADP reported earlier that the U.S. private sector added 191,000 jobs in March, just shy of expectations for a 195,000 reading.
February’s figure was revised up to a gain of 178,000 from a previously reported increase of 139,000, and the overall report bolstered the dollar by fueling hopes Friday's official nonfarm payrolls data will come in solid.
Separately, the Commerce Department said U.S. factory orders jumped 1.6% in February, the biggest increase since September, ahead of forecasts for a 1.2% rise.
The data strengthened the greenback by firming expectations for the Fed to intervene less in the economy, though gold prices shrugged off the data.
Concerns that Friday's official jobs report could disappoint bolstered prices as well.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for May delivery was up 1.52% and trading $19.987 a troy ounce, while copper for May delivery was up 0.19% and trading at $3.040 a pound.