August 4, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 24,1423

NEW YORK, Aug 3: COMEX gold futures rose on Friday as the US dollar and stock market weakened on disappointing economic data, with traders buying more gold after Thursday’s bounce from a test of $300-an-ounce support, dealers said.

To see this reaction is completely natural given the fall of the day before, and it was just helpful that the dollar and the Dow (Dow Jones industrial average) are weaker, said Bernard Hunter, director of precious metals marketing at ScotiaMocatta in Toronto.

Benchmark December gold futures at the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $3 to settle at $309 an ounce, its highest since July 26, after ranging from $305.80 to $309.80.

Spot gold last traded at $307.15/7.65, versus Thursday’s New York close at $304.35/85 and Friday’s late fix in London at $305.05.

The safe-haven asset traded firmer and the dollar wilted after a report by the US Labour Department of a scant 6,000 new jobs created in July, well off the 69,000 expected by economists, fanning fears economic growth was at risk after a weak spring quarter. The greenback slid versus the euro to 0.9870/74 in mid-afternoon after the data as traders took this week’s sour batch of news as a sign the economic recovery is in peril.

After the close, weekly CFTC Commitments of Traders data showed the fund net long position in COMEX gold fell to a mere 385 lots as of Tuesday from 26,238 lots a week earlier.

Small speculators cut their long standing to 31,848 lots from 40,715 longs over the same period.

COMEX September silver climbed with gold, rising 1.0 cent to $4.593 an ounce, moving from $4.575-$4.635. Spot was at $4.59/61, from its last close at $4.57/59 and Friday’s fix at $4.625.

The latest CFTC data showed funds net long COMEX silver by 28,374 contracts from 26,238 lots last week, while small specs reduced their longs to 18,335 lots from 40,715 lots.—Reuters