Precious-Gold inched up on Friday, yet may be heading for its fifth straight weekly drop amid uncertainty regarding Fed stimulus taper.
Gold is currently trading around $1327.00 an ounce after hitting a high of $1327.30 and a low of $13519.74.
Investors’ focus remain on U.S. data to track the progress in the world’s largest economy to gather evidence whether the Fed will start withdrawing its monthly bond purchases later this year.
A report released yesterday showed that U.S. initial jobless claims fell to 305,000 in the week ended September 21 from a revised of 310,000.
The main determinant of Fed stimulus could be next Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report that may show U.S. employers added more jobs in September than in August.
Last week, the Fed surprisingly decided to hold its stimulus but comments from Fed members have referred to a possible unwind in QE in October or in December, depending on the pace of improvement in economic data.
As of 12:30 GMT, a report from the U.S. may show that personal income climbed 0.4 percent in August from 0.1 percent a month earlier, while personal spending soared 0.3 percent from a prior of 0.1 percent.
A fifth consecutive weekly loss may be on track this week, yet losses may be minimized as worries regarding U.S. debt ceiling are giving some haven demand on the metal.
A government shutdown remains imminent as the Congress has not passed the 2014 budget that takes effect on October 1, while did not vote to raise the U.S. debt ceiling which may make it prone to a default by mid-October.
The dollar index, which tracks the dollar’s movements versus a basket of major currencies, slipped to hover around 80.55 after hitting a peak of 81.00.