Investing.com - Gold prices inched up on Friday after a global stock-market selloff sent investors snapping up nicely priced positions in the yellow metal even on expectations for the Federal Reserve to trim its monthly bond-buying program next week.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for February delivery traded at USD1,263.40 a troy ounce during U.S. trading, up 0.09%, up from a session low of USD1,256.90 and off a high of 1,272.50.
The February contract settled up 1.91% at USD1,262.30 on Thursday.
Futures were likely to find support at USD1,231.30 a troy ounce, Thursday's low, and resistance at USD1,272.50, the earlier high.
A preliminary Chinese HSBC Manufacturing PMI released earlier this week fell to 49.6 for January from 50.5 in December, missing market calls for an uptick to 50.6.
A reading under 50 signifies contraction, and the numbers spooked investors with concerns that emerging-market economies may grow less and sparked a global stock-market selloff.
Investors fleeing risk in emerging markets saw gold as an attractive venue, though the yellow metal did come off earlier highs.
The Federal Reserve will meet next week to address monetary policy, and markets were expecting monetary authorities to trim USD10 billion from the U.S. central bank's USD75 billion monthly bond-buying program, which moved gold off earlier highs.
Still, consensus that policy will remain loose with tapering coming gradually kept prices higher.
Meanwhile, silver for March delivery was down 0.87% and trading at USD19.835 a troy ounce, while copper futures for March delivery were down 0.49% and trading at USD3.269 a pound.