WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices climbed to fresh record highs on Friday, rising for a fourth straight session, as lingering concerns about growth amid tariff threats pushed up the demand for the safe-haven asset.
The dollar's weakness supported the yellow metal. The dollar index, which dropped to 103.57, recovered to around 103.70, but still remained below the flat line.
Gold futures closed up $10.20 or about 0.34% at $2,994.50 an ounce. Gold futures gained about 3.1% in the week.
Silver futures for March settled at $34.187 an ounce, gaining $0.136 or 0.4%, while Copper futures for March dropped to around $4.8950, losing $0.0275 or about 0.56%.
In the latest in a long list of tariff threats, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would impose a 200 percent tariff on all wines, champagnes and alcoholic products coming out of the EU in response to a 'nasty' 50 percent tariff on whisky, which was imposed as a counter measure to previous levies announced by the U.S.
It is feared that Trump' tariff policies could hit businesses and in turn impact the common consumers in a consumption-driven economy.
The focus next week will be on Fed's next meeting. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to maintain status quo on rates.
Amid much uncertainty over President Trump's trade policies and their impact on U.S. growth and inflation, traders await further guidance on the rate outlook.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is likely to avoid a government shutdown after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, said he would vote to advance a Republican spending bill funding the government through September.
While Democrats oppose the bill, Schumer argued allowing President Donald Trump to 'take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.'
In economic news, the University of Michigan released a report showing a much steeper than expected drop by its reading on U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of March.
The report said the U.S. consumer sentiment index plunged to 57.9 in March after tumbling to 64.7 in February. Economists had expected the index to dip to 63.1. The March reading was the lowest since the index hit 56.7 in November 2022.
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