Gold prices edged up on Friday and were on track to rise for the fourth straight week, the longest string of weekly gains since January, as Asian stocks slumped amid increasing worries over the outlook for U.S. corporate earnings and global economic slowdown.
Spot gold was up 0.3% at $1,234.92 U.S. an ounce early Friday. It was up 0.7% for the week. U.S. gold futures were up 0.4% at $1,237.40 an ounce.
Equity markets have been in dipsy-doodle mode in recent sessions on concerns over global growth as investors fretted over Sino-U.S. trade frictions, a variety of U.S. corporate earnings, Federal Reserve rate hikes and Italian budget woes.
Gold, which is used as an alternative investment during times of political and financial uncertainty, has gained about 6% after falling in mid-August to their lowest since January 2017 at $1,159.96 U.S. an ounce.
However, the yellow metal has declined about 10% from its April peak after investors preferred the dollar as the U.S.-China trade war unfolded against a background of higher U.S. interest rates.
A target range of $1,252-$1,263 U.S. per ounce has been aborted for spot gold, as it failed again to break a resistance at $1,238 U.S., according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao
Among other precious metals, palladium was up 0.3%at $1,102.75 U.S. an ounce, but away from a record high of $1,150.50 an ounce hit on Tuesday.
Silver rose 0.3% to $14.64 U.S. per ounce, and platinum was down 0.5% at $827.00 an ounce
Related Stories
