Cautious trading of gold futures expected next week

Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia (Jun 6)  Gold futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives are likely to trade in a cautious mode next week as more US economic data is released. Among the data is that for sales and the weekly initial jobless claims.

Phillip Futures Sdn Bhd dealer Ong Su Ling said the stronger US jobless claims data for the week just ended and released yesterday is set to keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates later this year. “This scenario could hurt demand for gold as it is non-interest paying asset. The estimated figures from today's US non-farm payrolls report is expected to be positive to the US economy and therefore, we expect that it could weigh on gold prices in the coming week,” she added.

The local Malaysia market was traded mostly lower for the week just ended. On a Friday-to-Friday basis, June 2015 rose 11 ticks to RM140.95 a gramme, July 2015 was up 10 ticks to RM141.30 and August 2015 increased nine ticks to RM141.75. A new contract month, September 2015, was introduced at RM142.10 per gramme yesterday. Volume for the week rose to 784 lots worth RM11.095 million from 222 lots worth RM3.1 million last week. Open interest was slightly higher at 2,342 contracts from 2,235 contracts last Friday.