Gold rises as traders focus on U.S., Chinese data

Investing.com - Gold futures traded modestly higher in the early part of Monday’s Asian session as traders in the region digested a spate of marquee economic data points from the U.S. and China that were published in recent days.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for August delivery inched up 0.06% to USD1,383.85 per troy ounce in Asian trading Monday after settling down 2.68% at USD1,377.85 a troy ounce in U.S. trading on Friday.

Gold futures were likely to test support USD1,374.75 a troy ounce, the low from May 28, and resistance at USD1,423.25, Thursday's high.

In U.S. economic news delivered last Friday, the U.S. Labor Department said the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in May, but added the unemployment rate rose to 7.6% from 7.5%. The April reading was revised lower to 149,000 from 165,000 while the March reading was revised down to 138,000 from 142,000.

Over the weekend, China, the world’s second-largest economy behind the U.S., delivered a raft of disappointing data. After a crackdown by Chinese officials on manipulators that use currency conversions to boost export data, Chinese exports showed an increase of just 1% last month. Exports to the U.S. and European Union, China’s two largest export markets, declined for a third consecutive month.

Imports fell 0.3%, well below the expected 6% increase. China's consumer inflation dropped to 2.1%, below the expected reading of 2.5%, while producer prices fell 2.9%. Analysts expected PPI to drop 2.5%. Retail sales rose 12.9%, which met expectations.

Fixed-asset investment and industrial production also met analysts’ expectations with year-over-year gains of 20.4% and 9.2%. China’s M2 money supply rose 15.8%, but that was below the expected 15.9% increase. New loans totaled 667.4 million yuan, but that missed expectations of 850 billion yuan and down from April's 792.9 billion yuan.

Elsewhere, Comex silver for July delivery fell 0.15% to USD21.710 per ounce while copper for July delivery dropped 0.92% to USD3.238 per ounce.