By Daniela Cambone
Of Kitco News

Montreal (Kitco News) -- With the Greece cabinet meeting scheduled for Wednesday and US non-farm payrolls data due Friday, gold prices will continue to be supported, according to an analyst with New York-based CPM Group.

Carlos Sanchez, Associate Director for the market research firm, said that over the past several weeks gold was trading in a wide band mostly between $1,090 and $1,140 an ounce; now it is sitting around the $1,130 mark. “Some of that is a shift in investor sentiment not only towards gold but mostly towards the Euro and the Dollar,” said Sanchez.

He said that the economic data in the US is also playing a role. “On one side it looks like the economy is recovering but you still have ongoing problems happening with Greece – so this week it will be a similar range,” he told Kitco.com

Reports suggest that Wednesday's cabinet meeting in Greece will likely involve a possible rescue package.

Meanwhile, investors are bracing for the US government's jobs report on Friday, the key economic release of the week, which will offer a key measuring point for the economy’s recovery.

“Unemployment will sit somewhere between 9.28% and 10%, unless we see a sharply different number I don’t think it will do much to gold. It is still a laid back unemployment figure so that would keep support for gold prices,” Sanchez said.

Forecasters at Barclays Capital expect poor weather conditions caused a loss of 125,000 jobs in February. But those should come back in March, suggesting a big payroll gain for that month.

Regarding the possible buyer of IMF’s 191.3 tons of gold, Sanchez says we are still in a wait-and-see situation.

“They (IMF) are going to be moving on market sales shortly but that does not limit participants from the official sector. Given the trend over the past year you may see a Central Bank step in, if not, you most likely will see a Central Bank buying this year even if they don’t directly purchase from the IMF,” he said.

-- By Daniela Cambone of Kitco News, dcambone@kitco.com