Gold futures pared gains Friday morning, tracking against the U.S. dollar as the greenback firmed following an unexpected rise in U.S. retail sales.
In recent trading, April gold was up 70 cents U.S., or 0.1%, at $1,108.90 U.S. an ounce on the Comex Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The ICE Futures U.S. dollar index was down 0.4%.
Although it remained weaker overall, the U.S. dollar moved up from its lows after the Commerce Department said Friday that retail sales rose last month by 0.3%, compared with economists' forecasts of a 0.3% decrease.
The firming in the greenback was the main pressure on gold, said MF Global analyst Tom Pawlicki.
The stronger economic data fueled some expectations that the Federal Reserve may tighten monetary policy more quickly than expected. The Federal Open Market Committee's rate-setting meeting is next week.
Any such tightening would likely boost the dollar and pressure gold.
One reason gold has been able to hold prices above $1,000 U.S. an ounce is easy money that has spurred investor moves into perceived riskier assets like commodities, equities and high-yielding currencies.
That is part of the reason gold has tended to move against the dollar in recent months. Also, the dollar-denominated metal tends to retreat when the greenback strengthens because a higher dollar makes the metal more expensive for buyers using other currencies.
