Gold hits two-week low as traders expect smaller US Fed rate cut
Gold hit $2,471.80 low earlier in the session
U.S. job openings in July fell
Odds of 50-bps cut in Sept rise to about 49%
Focus shifts to US payrolls data on Friday
Rewrites throughout, updates prices as of 1535 GMT
By Anushree Ashish Mukherjee
Sept 4 (Reuters) -Gold prices reversed course to gain on Wednesday, helped by a softer dollar and lower yields after falling U.S. job openings signalled a possibility of an over-sized rate cut from the U.S. Federal Reserve at its policy meeting this month.
Spot gold XAU= gained 0.1% to $2,494.00 per ounce as of 11:35 a.m. ET (1535 GMT), bouncing back from a two-week low of $2,471.80 hit earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 rose 0.1% to $2,525.70.
Data showed U.S. job openings in July fell to the lowest level in three and a half years.
Traders added to bets that the Fed will deliver a 50-basis-point reduction at its Sept 17-18 meeting, raising them to about 49% from 41% immediately before the data, rate futures contracts show.
"The data has shifted expectations for a little bit of a higher percentage chance of more than a 25-basis-point cut at the Fed meeting," said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures.
JOLTS data indicates that there is an expectation that we are beginning to see a bit of a slowdown in the economy, leading to a pullback in the dollar, and interest rates continuing to creep lower, which is supportive to the gold market, Meger added. USD/US/
ADP employment and jobless claims reports on Thursday and the non-farm payrolls report on Friday will also be closely scanned for cues on the Fed's rate-cut path.
Markets expect 100 basis points of cuts by year-end, implying a 50-basis-point cut in one of the next three FOMC meetings, although it's unlikely to be the first one, said Peter A. Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals.
Bullion, which offers no interest of its own, tends to thrive in a low-interest-rate environment.
Elsewhere, spot silver XAG= rose 0.5% to $28.19 per ounce, platinum XPT= gained 0.7% to $909.57 and palladium XPD= dipped 0.1% to $937.25.
Spot gold price in USD per oz https://reut.rs/4g8LFN1
Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Swati Verma and Rahul Paswan; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Janane Venkatraman
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