By Barani Krishnan
Gold prices dipped Friday, but still ended with their best week in almost 12 years after investors cashed in on part of the yellow metal’s supercharged gains on the back of the gigantic U.S. fiscal response to the coronavirus crisis.
Gold was also pressured somewhat by the dollar’s first rebound this week after the passage of the $2 trillion Covid-19 stimulus package in the House of Representatives.
Gold futures for April delivery on New York’s COMEX settled down $26.20, or 1.6%, at $1,625 per ounce. For the week, April gold finished with a 9.5% gain — the best week for a front-month gold futures contract on COMEX since the 13% gain recorded during the week to Sept. 12, 2008.
April gold also raced to as high as $1,699.15 on Tuesday, strengthening its chart position to take on the $1,700 resistance. That rally came as U.S. lawmakers and the White House reached broad agreement on the $2 trillion stimulus pending further negotiations.
Spot gold, which tracks live trades in bullion, was down $31, or 1.9%, at $1,620.20 by 2:37 PM ET (18:37 GMT). For the week, bullion was up 8.2%.
“I usually say let’s look at the daily gold chart, but this is NOT a technically driven market currently,” Nicholas Degeorge, precious metals strategist at RJO Futures in Chicago, said. “However, let‘s keep it simple and note that this week’s low is $1,608, which could act as support, and if it breaks the $1,700 an ounce levels, hold onto your longs and enjoy the ride!”