2020.06.0518:21:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Notably Lower After Equities Rally On Jobs Data

Gold prices drifted lower on Friday as better-than-expected U.S. jobs data prompted investors to seek riskier assets such as equities, and pushed up the dollar.

Data from the Labor Department showed U.S. non-farm payroll employment jumped by 2.51 million jobs in May after plummeting by a revised 20.69 million jobs in April.

Economists had expected job losses to be around 8.0 million in the month of May, following the nosedive of 20.5 million jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The unemployment rate dropped to 13.3% in May from 14.7% in April. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to surge up to 19.8 %.

The dollar index rose to 97.03 by mid afternoon, gaining about 0.35%.

Gold futures for August ended down $44.20 or about 2.6% at $1,683.00 an ounce, the lowest settlement since April 3.

Gold futures shed almost 4% this week.

Silver futures for July ended lower by $0.582 at $17.534 an ounce, while Copper futures for July settled at $2.5555 per pound, gaining $0.0660 for the session.