Investing.com - Gold futures fell on Friday after upbeat U.S. growth sent both the dollar and U.S. stock indices rising.
Gold and the greenback tend to trade inversely with one another, while the precious metal often serves as a safe-haven hedge in times of Wall Street selloffs.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery traded at 1,215.20 a troy ounce during U.S. trading, down 0.55%, up from a session low of $1,213.00 and off a high of $1,231.70.
The December contract settled up 0.20% at $1,221.90 on Thursday.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,206.60 a troy ounce, Thursday's low, and resistance at $1,237.00, Tuesday's high.
Gold prices took a dive as the dollar rose after the Commerce Department said U.S. gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 4.6% in the second quarter, in line with the consensus forecast, after contracting by 2.1% in the first three months of the year.
U.S. second quarter GDP was initially reported to have increased by 4.2%.
The positive data fueled already growing expectations for rate hikes to kick in earlier next year than once anticipated, which would chip away at gold's appeal as a hedge to a weaker dollar in times of low borrowing costs.
On Thursday, Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher said that the U.S. central bank may start raising interest rates around the spring of 2015, earlier than many market expectations.
Separately, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final consumer sentiment index remained unchanged at 84.6 this month, just shy of expectations for an uptick to 84.7.
Elsewhere, stocks rose on Friday after investors applauded the upbeat U.S. GDP report, which took its toll on gold.
On Thursday, stocks dropped on fears Russia may give its courts the green light to freeze foreign assets, a potentially tit-for-tat move in response to Western sanctions slapped on Moscow for allegedly meddling in the Ukraine crisis.
Meanwhile, silverfor December delivery was up 0.54% at $17.533 a troy ounce, while copper futures for December delivery were up 0.25% at $3.038 a pound.