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Gold holds above $1,200 after best day in 2 months

April 1, 2015

San Francisco (Apr 1)  Gold hovered above $1,200 an ounce on Thursday, clinging to gains from the prior session when it rose the most in two months, after weak U.S. private jobs data suggested that a more comprehensive employment report could disappoint.

Spot gold was flat at $1,203.70 an ounce by 2324 GMT, after climbing 1.8 percent on Wednesday. That was bullion's biggest single-day rally since Jan. 30, nearly reversing a 2.4-percent slide in all of March. U.S. gold for June delivery slipped 0.4 percent to $1,203.70 an ounce.

U.S. private employers added the smallest number of workers in more than a year in March. The ADP National Employment Report showed private payrolls rose by 189,000, well below economists' expectations for an increase of 225,000.

The ADP report came ahead of Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls report which is forecast to show an increase of 245,000 in March after rising 295,000 in February, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

A weaker number on Friday could push back expectations for a U.S. interest rate hike which some analysts had predicted to come as early as June.
Other data also pointed to slower U.S. economic growth in the first quarter, with factory activity hitting a near two-year low in March.

The renewed uncertainty could boost appetite for safe-haven assets such as gold, which could close in on a three-week high reached last week.

 Barrick Gold Corp has lost its bid to dismiss a U.S. lawsuit that accuses the world's largest gold producer of concealing problems at a troubled South American mine and of fraudulently inflating the company's market value by billions of dollars.

 Kinross Gold Corp said its mining and crushing operations at its Maricunga mine in northern Chile remain suspended following severe floods in the region last week.

Source: CNBC

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