Investing.com – Gold prices turned lower on Friday despite a weaker dollar as markets await the U.S. GDP data due later in the day.
Gold Futures for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchangeis was down 0.2% to a trading price of $1,223.10 each troy ounce at 1:30AM ET (05:30 GMT).
Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies, also slipped 0.06% to 94.51 ahead of the second-quarter GDP report due later in the day. Economists expect to see the annualized growth rate ticked up to 4.2% in the second quarter, the highest in almost four years.
U.S. President Donald Trump expressed earlier this week his displeasure over the currency’s strength.
The yen gained 0.13% against the dollar on Friday amid speculation that the Bank of Japan could scale back its monetary stimulus program soon.
Trade Tensions remained in focus as representatives from the U.S. and China had an unpleasant conversation at the World Trade Organization meeting on Thursday.
During the meeting, Washington asked for reforms targeting China’s responsiveness to the market, while Beijing said it would not respond to the U.S.’s tactics.
Chinese Ambassador Zhang Xiangchen said “Extortion, distortion or demonization does no good to resolve the issues..Holding our feet to the fire has never worked,” he added.
Another Chinese official noted at the event that China will retaliate against any additional U.S. tariffs, regardless of the volume of goods targeted.
“We clearly have a chronic problem with China,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in Senate testimony on Thursday, adding that trade problems with Beijing will take years to resolve.