Gold prices slipped on Friday as the dollar rebounded from earlier losses.
Gold futures for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 3.80, or 0.29%, to $1,328.80 a troy ounce by 12:50pm ET. The precious metal was on track to finish the week with its biggest weekly fall since early December in 2017.
The US dollar index that measures the greenback against a basket of currencies stood at 89.78, up 0.13%, but dropped from an eight-day peak above the 90 mark yesterday.
Meanwhile, U.S. treasury 10-year note yields rose to 2.957% on Wednesday, its four-year high, before dropping to 2.904% on Thursday and rebounding to 2.928% on Friday.
St Louis Fed President James Bullard warned on Thursday that too many rate hikes this year would restrict economy growth, and that he did not expect the years of below-target inflation to change rapidly.
Gold is sensitive to moves in both bond yields and the U.S. dollar – A weaker dollar makes gold cheaper for holders of foreign currency raising demand while a fall in U.S. bond yields, limits the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion.
Asian stocks were mixed on Friday to end the week on a positive note as the Dow and the S&P 500 reversed some of its midweek pullback. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index led the gain in the morning but gave back some of its profit later on, gaining 0.71% by 12pm ET. Mainland Chinese markets were the underperformers in the region, with Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component losing 0.15% and 0.31% respectively.
