Gold prices slipped on Monday, as investors booked profits after bullion hit a more than one-month high in the previous session on rising bets of U.S. interest rate cuts in September.
Spot gold fell 0.8% at $2,371.70 per ounce, after rising to its highest level since May 22 on Friday. U.S. gold futures eased 0.7% to $2,379.90.
Data on Friday showed that the unemployment rate hit a 2-1/2-year high of 4.1%, pointing to a softer U.S. labour market.
“We’re getting a little bit of profit taken this morning because we had such a significant rally on Friday night after the payrolls data,” said Kyle Rodda, a financial market analyst at Capital.com.
Markets are expecting a 78% chance of a September rate by the Federal Reserve, according to CME’s Fedwatch Tool. Traders are also pricing in a rising chance of a second rate cut in December.
Lower rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
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