Gold futures climbed modestly Friday, as data showing that the U.S. economy grew at a faster rate than expected in the third quarter boosted gold’s appeal as an inflation hedge and weighed on the U.S. dollar.
Gold for December delivery gained $3.80, or 0.2%, to $1,716.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold rose $11.40, or 0.7%, on Thursday to settle at $1,713 U.S. an ounce, but it was still trading about 0.4% lower for the week.
The U.S. economy sped up in the third quarter, with gross domestic product growing at a 2% clip, up from 1.3% in the second quarter and better than the 1.7% pace expected by economists
Separately, the final reading of the University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters consumer sentiment indicator edged down to 82.6 from an initially reported 83.1, which was a bit worse than forecast.
Earlier, gold saw selling pressure in Asia, a reflection of softer regional growth data that added to larger worries of a weakening in global economic activity. In South Korea, the economy grew at the slowest pace in nearly three years. Read more on South Korea's growth .
Over in Spain, unemployment hit a fresh high, with the jobless rate in the third quarter rising to 25.02% from 24.63% in the second quarter. See: Spanish employment reaches 25%.
Against that backdrop, silver and copper rose, but platinum and palladium inched lower.
December silver added 22 cents, or 0.7%, to $32.70 U.S. an ounce, trading about 0.7% higher for the week. December copper rose 0.5 cents, or 0.1%, to $3.56 U.S. a pound, about 2.2% lower from a week ago.
Platinum for January delivery traded at $1,565.40 U.S. an ounce, down $3.20, or 0.2%, while December palladium slipped d $4.20, or 0.7%, to $600.30 U.S. an ounce. Both were down more than 3% week to date.
