BENGALURU, June 8(Reuters) - Gold held steady near a
two-week high early on Wednesday, with the prospect of an early
U.S. interest rate hike apparently dimming following dovish
comments by Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen earlier this
week.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold XAU= was nearly flat at $1,243.70 an ounce by
0100 GMT. It touched a two-week high of $1,248.40 on Monday.
* U.S. gold GCcv1 was down 0.1 percent at $1,246.40
* U.S. nonfarm productivity fell less sharply than initially
thought in the first quarter and labour-related costs surged for
a second straight quarter as companies hired more workers to
raise output, suggesting profits could remain under pressure.
* The World Bank slashed its 2016 global growth forecast on
Wednesday to 2.4 percent from the 2.9 percent estimated in
January due to stubbornly low commodity prices, sluggish demand
in advanced economies, weak trade and diminishing capital flows.
* The dollar was flat at 107.315 yen JPY= off the
one-month low of 106.35 touched on Monday but still a long way
away from the recent peak of 111.455 scaled at the end of May.
USD/N
* Workers at Northam Platinum's South African mine said on
Tuesday they would not return to work until management and
police provided them with safety guarantees after a spate of
murders, despite appeals from the company that it was safe.
* China's gold reserves were unchanged, at 58.14 million
fine troy ounces at the end of May, from the end of April, the
central bank said on Tuesday.
* Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd 1929.HK, China's largest
jeweller by market value, reported a 46 percent fall in
full-year profit, hurt by weak consumer sentiment and a fall in
tourist arrivals.
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MARKET REPORT
* Asian shares held near six-week highs on Wednesday, on a
brightening outlook in the energy sector and hopes that the U.S.
Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates in the coming
months after a disappointingly weak U.S. jobs report.
MKTS/GLOB
* Oil prices jumped more than 1 percent on Tuesday, hitting
2016 highs, with U.S. crude settling above $50 a barrel the
first time in almost a year, on expectations of domestic
stockpile draws and worries about global supply shortfalls from
attacks on Nigeria's oil industry. O/R
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
China trade data May
0830 Britain industrial output Apr
1400 U.S. JOLTS job openings Apr
*Time for China trade data not available