Gold prices jumped by about $23 on Friday after the publication of a report that showed a sharp slowdown in US job growth last September.
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This may prompt the Federal Reserve (the US central) to postpone its plans to reduce stimulus programs and raise interest rates.
And by 13:07 (GMT), about half an hour after the release of jobs data from the US Department of Labor.
Spot gold prices rose by $22.9, or 1.31 percent, to $1,778.7 an ounce.
And it increased in US futures contracts by 20.35 dollars, or 1.16 percent, to 1779.65 dollars an ounce.
On Friday, official US Labor Department data showed a sharp slowdown in job growth.
Adding only 194 thousand jobs in the non-agricultural sectors during last September, less than 500 thousand jobs expected by analysts.
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The number of new jobs in September was the smallest monthly increase recorded since January 2021, in a sign that the recovery of the world’s largest economy has stalled.
And gold prices received support from the dollar’s turn to the downside in evening trading.
The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of six major competing currencies, fell 0.25 percent to less than 93.98 points.
The decline of the dollar increases the attractiveness of gold, as it reduces the cost of its purchase over other currencies.
And the US jobs data is widely awaited by the markets, as it gives an indication of the trends of the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) regarding its monetary policy for the next stage.
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The US central bank has identified the level of employment and the inflation rate as the main criteria to reduce its extensive program to buy bonds and raise interest rates.
Over the past weeks, there have been expectations that the US Federal Reserve will soon start reducing its bond-buying program, followed by a rate hike in mid-2022.
But weak data on the US labor market put an end to these expectations.
