Gold futures climbed Friday with weakness in the U.S. dollar and equities helping to set prices up for a gain on the week.
Gold for August delivery gained $10.80, or 0.8%, to $1,295 U.S. an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices settled $6.70 higher on Thursday and were ready to end the week around 1% higher.
Likewise, September silver rose 12 cents, or 0.6%, to $19.51 U.S, after Thursday’s loss of three cents. It was trading about 1.6% lower for the week.
Gold’s advance came as the U.S. dollar pared some of its Thursday gains, with the ICE dollar index sitting at 82.652 Friday, down from 82.783 late the previous day.
Since gold futures, like those of many commodities, are usually denominated in dollars, a fall in the U.S. unit makes gold less expensive to holders of other currencies, encouraging buying.
The precious metal has also gained recently on congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the U.S. central bank had no set timetable for slowing its stimulus.
The Fed’s monetary easing is generally seen as supportive of gold.
The Fed chief on Thursday also said that no one really understands gold, including himself. But some analysts offered a good explanation about how a fall in production among miners and strong demand out of Asia will provide good support for gold prices.
In other metals action, September copper rose a penny, or 0.3%, to $3.14 U.S. a pound, down 0.4% from a week ago, while October platinum made a solid $15.70 rise — 1.1% to $1,430.50 U.S. an ounce, set for a weekly gain of about 1.7%.
September palladium added $2.40, or 0.3%, to trade at $749.90 U.S. an ounce, trading up by more than 3% for the week
