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Gold futures on Friday were heading higher, but may still post a slight weekly loss.
Gold has been whipsawed in recent weeks by uncertainty about the strength of the global economic rebound amid the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 and talk of the Federal Reserve tapering its pandemic-era monetary accommodations later this year or early next year.
The precious metal trade also has come against the backdrop of equity buying that has taken the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
and the S&P 500
SPX,
to a series of record-high closes, undermining demand for safe-haven gold.
“Gold has been caught in the crossfire,” wrote Victor Argonov, senior analyst at Exante, in a Friday note. “Although the current central bank policy measures should be supporting prices, the relative strength of the dollar is applying headwinds for gold, while the rallying stock markets means haven demand for precious metal is also not as strong as last year,” the analyst wrote.
December gold
GCZ21,
GC00,
was trading $8.40, or 0.5%, higher at $1,760.20 an ounce, following a 0.1% decline on Thursday. For the week, the metal is set for a decline of about 0.2%, based on the most-active contract.
Meanwhile, silver for September delivery
SIU21,
traded 24 cents, or 1%, higher at $23.36 an ounce, following a 1.6% decline in the previous session. For the week, gold’s sister metal has lost 4%.
The rise in the dollar also has checked moves in precious metals and is up 0.1% so far this week, as gauged by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
yield was up by over 5 basis points on a weekly basis to around 1.34%.
