By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was up on Friday morning in Asia, despite a stronger dollar, as President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden made their cases in the final presidential debate before the Nov. 3 presidential election and as investors continued to monitor progress on the latest stimulus measures.
Gold futures edged up 0.20% at $1,908.35 by 12:14 AM ET (4:14 AM GMT). The dollar inched up on Friday, capping gains for the yellow metal as its appeal to other currency holders lessened.
House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday was optimistic that a deal would be reached “pretty soon”, saying that progress was being made in talks with the White House. However, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow warned that there were still “significant policy differences” unlikely to be resolved before the election, namely Senate Republicans’ opposition to the measures’ price tag.
The U.S. also released positive data on Thursday. Weekly jobless claims fell to 787,000 for the past week, against the expected 860,000 and the previous week’s 842,000 claims. Existing home sales also surged to 6.54 million in September, a more than 14-year high.
Across the Atlantic, the U.K. and the European Union launched intensified daily talks on Thursday, last-ditch efforts to reach a Brexit deal before the end of the year.
Some investors were bullish, with strong investor demand for gold to keep prices high and offset the likely slump in demand from jewellers and central banks in 2021, Refinitiv Metals Research told CNBC.
Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust (P:GLD), the largest gold-backed exchange-traded-fund, fell 0.1% on Wednesday to 40.8 million ounces.