Investing.com - Gold futures gave back earlier gains on Friday, firming after mixed data weakened the dollar in the morning and sent the precious metal rising, though profit taking kicked in later in the session and sent the commodity into negative territory.
Gold and the dollar tend to trade inversely with one another.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for February delivery were down 0.24% at $1,222.70, up from a session low of $1,215.30 and off a high of $1,229.50.
The February contract settled down 0.31% at $1,225.60 on Thursday.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,186.40 a troy ounce, last Friday's low, and resistance at $1,239.00, Tuesday's high.
The dollar has rallied in recent months on expectations for U.S. monetary policy to grow less accommodative while European and Asian central banks move in the opposite direction, which has softened gold prices.
On Friday, however, mixed U.S. data cooled the dollar's rally and gave gold room to rise, though by the end of trading, investors concluded that despite potholes here and there, the U.S. economy will continue to expand, the dollar will strengthen and gold will become less appealing as a hedge to economic uncertainty.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment index rose to a nearly eight-year high of 93.8 this month from 88.8 in November. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 89.7 in December.
The data came after the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the U.S. producer price index fell 0.2% last month, surpassing expectations for a 0.1% downtick, after rising 0.2% in October.
Core producer price inflation, which excludes food, energy and trade, was flat in November, confounding expectations for a 0.1% rise, after an increase of 0.4% the previous month.
Elsewhere, silver for March delivery was down 0.32% at $17.057 a troy ounce, while copper futures for March delivery were up 0.32% at $2.930 a pound.