GOLD prices plummeted last week with the precious metal off by more than 5.2 percent to trade at US$1,166 ahead of the New York close Friday.

    The loss mark the largest single day decline since Dec. 19, 2013 with prices now at the levels not seen since April 2010. Strength in the U.S. dollar, improving U.S. economic data and a fresh round of easing from the Bank of Japan is likely to keep gold prices under pressure with a near-term support structure coming into focus.

    Looking ahead to this week investors will be closely eyeing the U.S. data flow with ISM, Factor Orders, and the highly anticipated Non-Farm Payrolls report on tap. Although the focus for Fed officials has seemingly shifted more so towards the inflation side, traders will be looking to confirm the central bank’s assertion of a substantiated recovery in the labor markets with consensus estimates calling for a print of 234K as unemployment holds at 5.9 percent.(SD-Agencies)