Spot Gold Moves Higher As Market Digests US Economy Indicators

London (June 9)  The price of gold shifted a touch higher in the European morning Monday, as investors continued to digest a monthly U.S. employment report.

Spot gold was up 0.2% from Friday's settlement price, trading at $1,255.32 per troy ounce. Silver rose 0.5% to $19.100 per ounce.

U.S. payrolls data for May came in only slightly better than expected on Friday. The Labor Department said the U.S. economy added 217,000 new jobs in May, beating forecasts of a 210,000 increase.

The data kept prices largely flat as fears that the recovering economy will allow the U.S. central bank to continue scaling back gold-positive stimulus measures were weighed against hopes that rising inflation would stoke demand for gold as a hedge against inflationary risks.

"Most major players remained on the side-lines at the end of last week," said VTB Capital bullion analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov in a note to clients. "From the investor perspective, Europeans would rather choose blue-chip equities or a stronger dollar given improving risk sentiment."

Gains were also limited for the platinum group metals, with spot platinum and palladium each rising just 0.2% to $1,449.90 per ounce and $842.60 per ounce, respectively.