Gold futures rebounded Friday from a two-day decline, with violence in Ukraine fueling some safe-haven support for the metal as traders looked to upcoming speeches from Federal Reserve officials for clues on the central bank’s monetary policy plans and to the weekend meeting of the Group of 20 nations.
Gold futures for April delivery rose $6.40, or 0.5%, to $1,323.30 U.S. an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, prices traded around 0.4% higher — and if they close higher, that’ll be the third weekly gain in a row.
March silver advanced nearly nine cents, or 0.4%, to $21.77 U.S. an ounce, trading roughly 1.6% higher on the week.
Gold futures sold off sharply in 2013 as the Fed moved toward scaling back its monthly bond purchases. The Fed’s aggressive quantitative easing program had previously boosted gold in response to fears the measures would undercut the U.S. dollar.
Gold has rebounded since the beginning of the year, after finding some safe-haven support amid turmoil in emerging markets in January and a rebound in physical demand.
The metal showed little reaction to data Friday showing U.S. existing home sales in January fell to its slowest pace since July 2012.
In other metals trading, April platinum rose $14.30, or 1% to $1,426.80 U.S. an ounce, down about 0.2% for the week, while March palladium rose $3.30, or 0.5%, at $739.60 U.S. an ounce, up 0.3% from the week-ago close.
March high-grade copper futures rose about a penny to $3.29 U.S. a pound, trading 0.7% higher for the week.
