Gold Ends Lower On U.S. Data; Gains 1.2% For Week

(RTTNews) - Gold futures rallied but still ended a tad lower on Friday, with the dollar trending higher on some upbeat macroeconomic data from the U.S. with global equity markets continuing to slide. Gold prices benefited after investor anxiety drove the precious metal to a near three-week high in the previous session.

Nonetheless, gold prices gained 1.2 percent for the week.

Volatility in global equities and expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep low rates through 2015 have given the precious metal renewed support.

In some positive economic news, consumer sentiment in the U.S. improved more than expected in April, a Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan report showed Friday, with the index at a nine-month high. Meanwhile, U.S. producer prices rose much more than expected in March, with prices for services showing a notable rebound, a Labor Department report revealed Friday. As well, import prices in the U.S. rose more than expected in March, with prices for fuel imports showing another notable increase.

Gold for June delivery, the most actively traded contract, shed $1.50 or 0.1 percent to close at $1,319.00 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday.

Gold for April delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,324.20 and a low of $1,314.00 an ounce.

Yesterday, gold ended sharply higher on its safe haven appeal with U.S. equities taking a deep plunge, with the dollar trending lower.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, dropped to 806.22 tons on Friday from its previous close of 806.48 tons.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 79.43 on Friday, up from its previous close of 79.41 late Thursday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 79.57 intraday and a low of 79.36.

The euro traded higher against the dollar at $1.3895 on Friday, as compared to its previous close of $1.3887 late Thursday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.3905 intraday and a low of $1.3864.

In economic news from the U.S., the Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand advanced by 0.5 percent in March after edging down by 0.1 percent in February. Economists had been expecting the index to tick up by 0.1 percent.

Core producer prices, which exclude food and energy, also rose by 0.6 percent in March following a 0.2 percent drop in the previous month. Core prices had been expected to rise by 0.2 percent.

Import prices in the U.S. too were up more than expected in the month of March, rising 0.6 percent, after climbing 0.9 percent in February, the Labor Department revealed in a report. Economists had expected import prices to tick up by 0.2 percent.

Consumer sentiment in the U.S. improved more than anticipated in April, with the preliminary reading on the consumer sentiment index for April coming in at 82.6 compared to the final March reading of 80.0. Economists expected the index to inch up to a reading of 81.0. With the bigger than expected increase, the consumer sentiment index reached its highest level since last July, at a nine-month high.

Elsewhere, China's consumer price inflation accelerated in March on higher food prices, but remained within the government's full year 3.5 percent target, data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed Friday. Consumer prices rose 2.4 percent from a year ago following a 2 percent rise in February, in line with expectations. Nevertheless, on a month-on-month basis, consumer prices dropped 0.5 percent, offsetting the 0.5 percent increase in the prior month, the first decline in four months.

In Europe, U.K. construction output declined in February at the fastest pace in three months, due mainly to the severe bad weather, the Office for National Statistics said Friday. Construction output decreased 2.8 percent from January, when it rose 2.1 percent, revised up from 1.8 percent. The decline was the worst since November, when output fell 4.1 percent. Construction output accounts for 6.3 percent of U.K. gross domestic product.