Gold weaker in Asia as markets look ahead to Greek bailout referendum

Gold weaker in Asia as markets look ahead to Greek bailout referendum
e.Gold prices eased in Asia on Thursday with a referendum on Greece's debt bailout terms set to go ahead and investors awaiting the results.

Speculation that Greece would cancel a snap referendum due to be held on July 5 on whether to accept the terms proposed by lenders for extending the country’s bailout was denied by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for August delivery fell 0.13% to $1,167.80 a troy ounce.

Silver for September delivery declined 0.33% to $15.525 a troy ounce.

Copper for September delivery eased 0.06% to $2.628 a pound.

Overnight, gold futures inched down on Wednesday extending losses from the previous two sessions, ahead of a monthly U.S. employment report and a highly anticipated Greek referendum over the weekend.

When the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its monthly jobs report on Thursday, economists expect a consensus rise of 230,000 non-farm payrolls for the month of June. In a robust report in May, non-farm payrolls surged by 280,000, amid significant increases in professional business services, retail trade and trade and transportation.

Analysts also expect the unemployment rate to tick down 0.1% to 5.4% after edging up to 5.5% in May. In terms of hourly wages, economists anticipate an uptick of 0.2% in June building on a 0.3% surge a month earlier.

A strong employment report could appease the hawks at the Federal Reserve, who are in favor of a September interest rate hike. Following last month's Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Fed chair Janet Yellen indicated that the U.S. Central Bank would like to see continued improvement in wage and inflation growth before it raises its benchmark Federal Funds Rate for the first time in nearly a decade.

Gold, which is not attached to dividends or interest rates, struggles to compete with high-yield bearing assets in periods of rising rates.

In Athens, Tsipras insisted that a no vote by Greek citizens in Sunday's referendum does not signal a departure from the euro zone, rather a denunciation of strict austerity measures its international creditors have demanded in return for cash and restructuring of its debt.

"No does not mean breaking with Europe, but returning to the Europe of values," Tsipras said in the address to the nation. "No means strong pressure a socially just agreement that puts burden on those who can shoulder it and not on pensioners and workers once again."

A day earlier as Greece's second bailout expired, Tsipras' government submitted a revised proposal, which included: pension, tax and labor reforms, as well as enhanced fiscal structural measures. A bevy of Greece's international creditors remain adamant that a No vote on Sunday will provide an indication of the Mediterranean state's intention of leaving the euro zone