Investing.com - Gold prices shot up on Friday after a week of soft data sparked sentiments the Federal Reserve will very gradually taper its monthly bond purchases, which weaken the dollar by suppressing interest rates.
Gold and the dollar tend to trade inversely with one another.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery traded at USD1,318.90 a troy ounce during U.S. trading, up 1.45%, up from a session low of USD1,300.00 and off a high of 1,321.30.
The April contract settled up 0.39% at USD1,300.10 on Thursday.
Futures were likely to find support at USD1,265.00 a troy ounce, Monday's low, and resistance at USD1,325.70, the high from Nov. 7.
Less-than-stellar economic indicators hitting the wire in the U.S. this week sent gold prices gaining on Friday by reminding investors the Federal Reserve won't rush to taper the pace of its monthly bond purchases, which have supported gold since 2012 by softening the dollar.
Earlier Friday, the preliminary Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index remained unchanged at 81.2 for February, beating expectations for a fall to 80.6.
However, the Federal Reserve reported that U.S. industrial production fell 0.3% in January, defying expectations for a 0.3% rise after a 0.3% increase the previous month, which boosted gold prices.
Data also showed that U.S. import prices rose 0.1% last month, confounding expectations for a 0.1% downtick after a 0.2% rise in December.
On Thursday, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. retail sales fell 0.4% in January, confounding expectations for a 0.3% increase. December’s figure was revised down to a decline of 0.1% from a previously reported 0.2% increase.
Last Friday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that the economy added 113,000 jobs in January, less than an expected 185,000 increase
Meanwhile, silver for March delivery was up 4.84% and trading at USD21.383 a troy ounce, while copper futures for March delivery were up 0.38% at USD3.262 a pound.