LONDON: Gold edged up towards $1,315 an ounce on Friday, heading for a second weekly gain, after soft US and European economic data fuelled expectations that central banks would stay committed to ultra-loose monetary policy, pushing bond yields lower.
Gains were capped, however, by easing concerns over unrest in Ukraine and signs of soft demand in China and India.
Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,314.00 an ounce at 0931 GMT, while US gold futures for December delivery were down 80 cents at $1,314.90.
Spot prices have so far held their narrowest weekly range this week since August 2007. "The market has truly exhausted itself," VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said.
"The lack of any fresh geopolitical developments on top of a mixed set of mixed macro numbers on both sides of the Atlantic this week resulted in anaemic bullion trading." "The market will continue to monitor headlines from Iraq and Ukraine, but players will pay a little more attention to the US July factory gate inflation estimates and industrial output estimates in macro driven trading today," he added.
"It will take a significant macro event to establish a new trend."
European stocks rose on Friday and were on track for their biggest weekly gains since mid-February, while German Bund yields held near record lows as recent weak data increased expectations for central bank action to lift the economy.
Bullion was also helped by data on Thursday that showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week. That helped push US yields lower.
Comments
Comments are closed.