(Kitco News)- Thegold market is off its highs but still holding on to modest gains despitestronger than expected private sector employment data.
ADPsaid that 234,000 jobs were created in January. According to consensusforecasts, economists were expecting to see job gains of 186,000.
The gold market was showing modest gains ahead of thereport, pushed higher from a weaker U.S. Dollar Index. April gold futures lasttraded at $1,345.60 an ounce, up 0.412% on the day. At the same time the U.S.dollar remains near session lows.
The data showed broad-based gains in both the manufacturingand service sectors. However, markets have been ignoring economic data andfocusing more on U.S. dollar strength. The U.S. Dollar Index continues to hovernear a three-year low, last trading at 88.88 points.
While the ADP report creates some upside momentum for thelabor market ahead of Friday's official nonfarm payrolls data, many economistsnote that the report is not a consistent predictor of the government numbers.
Analysts are also hesitant to take make a big move infinancial markets ahead of the Federal Reserve monetary policy decision, whichcomes out later this afternoon.
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