Investing.com - Better-than-expected data out of the U.S. housing sector sent gold prices falling on Friday as investors bet the Federal Reserve will continue to taper stimulus programs that have supported the yellow metal for years.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, goldfutures for June delivery traded at 1,292.30 a troy ounce during U.S. trading, down 0.10%, up from a session low of $1,287.90 and off a high of $1,298.40.
The June contract settled down 0.94% at $1,293.60 on Thursday.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,278.30 a troy ounce, Monday's low, and resistance at $1,309.10, Wednesday's high.
The Census Bureau reported earlier that U.S. building permits rose 8% to 1.080 million units last month, up from an upwardly revised 1.000 million in March. Analysts were expecting building permits to rise to 1.010 million units in April, and the better-than-expected figure gave the greenback support.
The report also showed that housing starts rose to 1.072 million units in April, from 947,000 in March, whose figure was revised up from a previously estimated 946,000. Analysts had expected building starts to rise to 980,000 units last month.
The news kept expectations firm that the Federal Reserve will continue to wind down its monthly bond-buying program, which suppresses interest rates to spur recovery, bolstering gold's appeal as a hedge to the weaker dollar.
Separately, the preliminary Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 81.8 in May from 84.1 in April, confounding market expectations for a 84.5 reading.
Meanwhile, silver for July delivery was down 0.83% at $19.322 a troy ounce, while copper futures for July delivery were up 0.01% at $3.145 a pound.