gold

Metals were trading quietly but firm during the Friday morning hours, everything changed once the NFP numbers came out, much better at 243 K versus 140 K expected. This erased the "hope" for QE3 for the gold bulls and profit taking set the tone for the rest of the day. Although gold briefly traded above $ 1760 right after the release of the numbers but it reversed very quickly and traded down to $ 1735. Later in the day more selling came in an the low was reached at $ 1725.00. Gold bounced off the lows in Asia this morning as physical buying was seen. Whether Friday`s move was a healthy correction in a rising market, or whether it signaled a end to the January rally... the next few days will show. On the options, gold vols are staying firm, there still seem to be a lot of open postions at the $ 1750 strike.