Gold holds steady after scaling 7-week high, US inflation data in focus

Gold held steady in early Asian trade on Monday after hitting a seven-week peak on Friday, as investors awaited key inflation reports due later this week for interest rate clues.

• Spot gold XAU= was little changed at $4,339.59 per ounce, as of 0017 GMT, after a more than 7% gain last week. Bullion hit its highest since June 17 on Friday after weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data reduced expectations for interest rate hikes.
• U.S. gold futures GCcv1 were flat at $4,399.40.
• Data on Friday showed the U.S. economy unexpectedly shed jobs in July and previously reported job gains for the prior two months were revised sharply lower.
• Following the data release, futures markets flipped the odds of a rate hike at the September 15-16 Federal Open Market Committee meeting from likelier-than-not to a worse-than-even chance.
• A lower interest rate environment boosts the attractiveness of gold against income-generating assets, as bullion itself earns no interest.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said hiring data for July represented a continuation of recent trends.

• Key U.S. inflation data due this week include the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Producer Price Index (PPI).