WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Despite a stronger dollar, gold futures settled higher on Friday, and notched up a strong weekly gain as well, on safe-haven buying amid concerns over China-U.S. tensions, and potential new tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
Investors presumably bet on more interest rate cuts from central banks. The Bank of England, the ECB, and the Bank of Canada all lowered their interest rates at their latest policy meetings. The Fed left its rate unchanged last week, but is expected to lower rates at least twice this year.
The dollar index, which climbed to 108.32, pared some gains subsequently, but still remained firm at 108.05, up 0.34% from previous close.
Gold futures for February closed up $11.30 or about 0.4% at $2,867.30 an ounce. Gold futures gained nearly 2% in the week.
Silver futures for February settled lower by $0.183 or 0.56% at $32.335 an ounce. For the week, silver futures gained about 0.65%.
Copper futures for February climbed to $4.5890 per pound, gaining $0.1355 or about 3%.
In U.S. economic news, a report from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment has unexpectedly deteriorated in February amid a surge by year-ahead inflation expectations.
The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index slumped to 67.8 in February after rising to 71.1 in January. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 72.0.
Data from the Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment rose by 143,000 jobs in January compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 170,000 jobs.
Meanwhile, employment in December and November surged by upwardly revised 307,000 jobs and 261,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net upward revision of 100,000 jobs.
The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate dipped to 4% in January from 4.1% in December. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged.
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