Investing.com - Gold prices continued the downward trend on Friday, adding to small weekly losses in relatively static trade.
Comex gold futures fell $5.30, or around 0.4%, at $1,343.50 a troy ounce by 4:07AM ET (8:07GMT).
With geopolitical tensions fading into the background, the precious metal was on track for weekly losses of just 0.3% and is off just 0.2% so far in April in what has been a largely range-bound move.
Year-to-date, gold has captured gains of around 1.9% thanks mostly to dollar weakness. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, advanced 0.16% to 89.78 on Friday, but is down around 2.3% so far this year.
Dollar-denominated assets such as gold are sensitive to moves in the dollar – a fall in the dollar makes gold more affordable for holders of foreign currency and thus increases demand for the precious metal.
With no major economic data on Friday’s agenda, market participants will continue to look for clues on monetary policy from Federal Reserve members.
Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester reiterated her view that the central bank should forge ahead with plans to gradually reduce policy accommodation.
“If the economy evolves as I anticipate, I believe further gradual increases in interest rates will be appropriate this year and next year,” she remarked on Thursday evening.
Markets have largely priced in that the Fed will hike rates twice more this year. Fed fund futures put the odds of the next rate hike coming in June at around 97%, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool. The probability of another increase in December was seen at about 88%.
Higher interest rates tend to weigh on demand for gold, which doesn’t bear interest, in favor of yield-bearing investments.
Chicago Fed president Charles Evans was scheduled to speak on the economic outlook and monetary policy at 9:40AM ET (13:40GMT) Friday, while San Francisco Fed chief John Williams will make an appearance at 11:15AM ET (15:15GMT).
In other metals trading, silver futures lost 12.4 cents, or 0.7%, at $17.115 a troy ounce by 4:08AM ET (8:08GMT).
Palladium futures traded down 1.6% to $1,009.60 an ounce. Sister metal platinum slid 0.6% at $934.800.
In base metals, copper traded up 0.2% to $3.138 a pound.