WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices climbed higher on Friday with investors rushing to pick up the safe-haven asset, amid signs of cooling inflation, and rising political uncertainty in Europe.
Investors picked up the yellow metal despite a fairly strong dollar. The dollar index, which surged to 105.81, eased to 105.54, but still remained well above the flat line, gaining 0.33%.
Gold futures for June ended up by $31.20 or about 1.4% at $2,331.40 an ounce. Gold futures gained about 1.15% in the week.
Silver futures for June ended up by $0.412 or about 1.4% at $29.402 an ounce. Silver futures gained 0.23% in the week.
Copper futures for July climbed to $4.4995 per pound, gaining $0.0180 or about 0.4%.
On the economic front, a report from the University of Michigan showed a continued deterioration in U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of June. The report said the consumer sentiment index fell to 65.6 in June after tumbling to 69.1 in May. Economists had expected the index to rebound to 72.0.
With the unexpected decrease, the consumer sentiment index dropped to its lowest level since hitting 61.3 in November 2023.
On the inflation front, the report said year-ahead inflation expectations were unchanged at 3.3% in June, above the 2.3-3% range seen in the two years prior to the pandemic.
Long-run inflation expectations, on the other hand, inched up to 3.1% in June from 3% in May, reaching the highest level since hitting 3.2% in November 2023.
A report released by the Labor Department showed unexpected decreases by U.S. import and export prices in the month of May.
The report said import prices fell by 0.4% in May following a 0.9% advance in April. Economists had expected import prices to inch up by 0.1%. Meanwhile, the report said export prices slid by 0.6% in May after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.6% in April.
Economists had expected export prices to come in unchanged compared to the 0.5% increase originally reported for the previous month.
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