Investing.com - Gold prices edged up on Friday after soft U.S. home sales softened the dollar, though gains were seen as short-lived due to ongoing expectations for the Federal Reserve to begin dismantling ultra-loose monetary policies that have supported the yellow metal since the 2008 financial crisis.
Gold and the dollar tend to trade inversely with one another.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery traded at $1,231.30 a troy ounce, up 0.18%, up from a session low of $1,229.10 and off a high of $1,234.40.
The December contract settled down 1.32% at $1,229.10 on Thursday.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,226.30 a troy ounce, Thursday's low, and resistance at $1,255.60, Tuesday's high.
Gold gained after the Census Bureau reported earlier that U.S. new home sales rose 0.2% in September to 467,000 units, missing expectations for an increase to 470,000 units, which fueled some safe-haven demand for the precious metal.
The August figure was downwardly revised to a 15.3% climb to 466,000 units from a previously estimated 18.0% jump to 504,000 units.
The data weakened the dollar somewhat and boosted gold's appeal as a hedge, as while the Federal Reserve is widely seen closing its bond-buying program this month, the timing of rate hikes in 2015 still remains unclear.
Still, gold didn't surge, as a longer-range view of economic indicators still points to a sustained U.S. recovery, including in the housing sector.
Earlier in the week, the National Association of Realtors reported that U.S. existing home sales increased 2.4% to a 5.17 million units last month from 5.05 million in August. Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise 1% to 5.10 million units in September.
Meanwhile, silver for December delivery was up 0.20% at $17.193 a troy ounce, while copper futures for December delivery were down 0.09% at $3.037 a pound.