Gold prices ease in Asia on dollar prospects, HK China markets shut

Investing.com - Gold prices eased slightly in early Asia on Thursday with strong dollar prospects acting as a dampener and in thin trade.

Hong Kong and China markets remain shut on Thursday. Hong Kong will re-open on friday and mainland China on Oct. 8.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery traded at $1,213.60 a troy ounce, down 0.07%, after hitting an overnight session low of $1,205.30 and off a high of $1,219.90.

Gold futures rose on Wednesday on demand from safe-haven investors fleeing stocks on fears of disappointing earnings, while lackluster U.S. data cut into the dollar's recent advance and gave gold further room to rise.

Earnings season is fast approaching and fears that soft European and Chinese economies may affect U.S. top lines sent stock prices falling on Wednesday, which boosted gold's appeal as a hedge to uncertainty.

Weaker data in the U.S. boosted gold prices as well by chipping away at the dollar's recent advance.

The Institute of Supply Management reported earlier that its manufacturing index fell to 56.6 in September from 59.0 in August. Economists had expected the index to decline less and come in at 58.5.

The employment sub-index slowed to 54.6 from 58.1 in the previous month, while the new orders sub-index fell to 60.0 from 66.7.

At the same time, separate data revealed that U.S. construction spending fell 0.8% in August to an annual rate of $960.96 billion. Analysts were expecting a decline of only 0.5%, and the day's data gave a few investors room to sell the greenback for profits.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, data showed that the U.S. private sector added more jobs than expected in September, which gave the greenback support and watered down gold's gains.

Payrolls processor ADP reported that the U.S. private sector added 213,000 jobs last month, just ahead of expectations for jobs growth of 210,000. The economy created 202,000 jobs in August.

Silver for December delivery was down 0.05% at $17.170 a troy ounce. Copper futures for December delivery were down 0.11% at $3.025 a pound.