SINGAPORE, Reuters (11/11) - Gold eased on Monday to trade near
three-week lows after an unexpectedly strong U.S. jobs report reignited
fears the Federal Reserve could begin scaling back its support for the
economy soon. Spot gold fell 0.2 percent to $1,286.19 an ounce
by 0020 GMT. It lost 1.7 percent on Friday - the metal's biggest one-day
drop in more than a month.Data from the U.S. Labor Department
showed employers added 204,000 new jobs to their payrolls last month,
well above estimates of 125,000, showing resilience of the economy
despite a partial government shutdown. Investors are watching
key data on the U.S. economy to gauge when the Fed could begin tapering
its $85 billion monthly bond purchases. They fear that strong data would
prompt the U.S. central bank to cut back purchases before the end of
the year.Barrick Gold Corp signaled on Friday that founder and
Chairman Peter Munk will likely leave the board at next year's annual
meeting, a move that sources say is intended to persuade reluctant
investors to buy into the miner's $3 billion equity offering. About
2,300 South African mineworkers staged an underground sit-in at Anglo
American Platinum's Dishaba mine, saying they will not leave until a
suspended union leader is reinstated, the company said on Sunday. Hedge
funds and money managers broadly cut bullish bets in futures and
options of U.S. gold, silver and copper in the week to Nov. 5, a report
by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday.
