Mubasher: Gold prices rose on Monday to their highest level in over one week, as the dollar retreated following data showing weaker wage growth in March, Reuters reported.

This came as market participants anticipated the release of minutes of the Federal Reserve’s March meeting due later this week.

By 9:15 am GMT, US gold futures climbed 0.48% to $1,301.80 per ounce, while spot gold rose 0.44% to $1,297.45 per ounce, having hit earlier $1,297.86 per ounce, its highest level since 29 March.

“Though the non-farm payrolls data was better than expected, the manufacturing jobs fell which is a bad signal for the sector and doesn’t show a very bright picture of the economic outlook,” Singapore-based CMC Markets analyst Margaret Yang was quoted by Reuters.

Payroll figures on Friday indicated job cuts among factories in the US, the first drop in manufacturing sector since July 2017.

This led the dollar to give up the multi-week highs, making the yellow metal more affordable for non-US currency holders.

At 9:16 am GMT, the US dollar index, a gauge for the greenback against six major rivals, fell 0.14% to 97.2560.

Moreover, the weakness in wage growth underpinned the decision by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to rule out any interest rate hikes this year.

Nevertheless, at the end of the day, trade talks between the US and China remained “the wild card,” SPI Asset Management trading and market strategy head Stephen Innes was quoted by Reuters.

Both sides are set to resume negotiations this week in an attempt to hammer out a deal to end their year-long tariff dispute.

However, gold’s gains were capped as Asian equities rallied near a seven-month high, briefly reached earlier in the session, as investors scaled back their exposure to the precious metal, analysts told Reuters.