Gold Repairs Four Straight Days Of Losses

Bullion was in the black Thursday, turning the corner on four straight days of declines following an upbeat jobs report from the United States last Friday. 

Stats from the US Department of Labor showed that the US economy created 114,000 new jobs in September, above the 110,000 that analysts were expecting. The department also revised the August figure up to 142,000 from 96,000 and July's result to 181,000 from 141,000.

The country's unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent from 8.1 percent, its lowest level since January 2009.

The price of gold, always a contrarian investment bet, turned negative on the news, with bullion slipping to $1,782.50 an ounce on Friday and dropping $12.50 to $1,770 on Monday, its largest two-week fall since August. The positive economic news put upward pressure on the US dollar and caused bullion buyers to take a breather (investors using non-US dollars pay more for bullion when the dollar rises), though the longer-term gold picture remains bullish, analysts said.

Reuters noted that this claim is evidenced by continued inflows of metals into exchange-traded products. Holdings of gold ETFs reached a new record of 74.725 million ounces last Friday.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, gold continued to decline, falling 2 percent over the four-day stretch, coinciding with a falling euro and rising dollar after Standard & Poor's downgraded Spain's debt to near-junk status. The downgrade makes it more expensive for the Spanish government to borrow money and increases the likelihood that Spain will ask for bailout money from its Eurozone partners.

By Thursday, the dollar had weakened and gold ticked back up. Spot gold was last quoted at $1,767.20/oz and COMEX gold for December delivery rose $4.50 to $1,769.50, according to numbers sourced by Kitco. US economic data released Thursday morning showed a sharp decline in weekly jobless gains, which knocked gold off its daily high of $1,773.40.

Workers reject pay raise; Gold One fires 75 percent of mine workforce

Labor unrest continued to plague the gold sector in South Africa this week.

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