Prices for gold traded in a narrow range on Friday caught between expectations of aggressive U.S. interest rate increases and jitters over high inflation and the economic fallout of the Ukraine crisis.
Spot gold was virtually unchanged at $1,933.86 U.S. per ounce but up 0.5% for the week. U.S. gold futures were little changed at $1,938.00.
Early Friday, the U.S. dollar index hit its highest since May 2020, bolstered by minutes of the Fed’s March policy meeting that showed "many" policymakers were prepared to raise rates in half-percentage-point increments in coming meetings to curb inflation.
Meanwhile, Russia gave the most somber assessment yet of its invasion of Ukraine, describing the "tragedy” of mounting troop losses and the economic hit from Western sanctions.
