Gold fell as the latest US jobs report showed strength in the labor market, reinforcing the view that the Federal Reserve will maintain interest rates for the time being.

US unemployment benefit applications fell for a sixth straight week, the longest losing streak since 2022. The dollar and bond yields pushed higher, weighing on bullion. Swap traders slightly trimmed their bets for interest rate cuts, projecting fewer than two cuts this year.

Outflows from Chinese exchange-traded funds into gold also weighed on the market, according to Daniel Ghali, senior commodity strategist at TD Securities. This withdrawal is in line with the recent decline in the Shanghai premium for gold. Gold has risen more than 25% this year, as uncertainty surrounding Donald Trump's aggressive efforts to reshape global trade and conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East fueled a flight to safe-haven assets.

However, the precious metal has traded in a tight range over the past few months after hitting an all-time high above $3,500 an ounce in April. Spot gold fell 0.4% to $3,375.21 an ounce as of 10:53 a.m. in New York. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%. Silver, platinum, and palladium all fell.

Copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.4% to $9,894 a ton, while most other base metals also weakened. Comex copper rose 0.3% to $5.8395 a pound as traders awaited Trump's tariffs on U.S. imports, which are set to take effect on August 1. (alg)

Source: Bloomberg