Investing.com – Gold prices were roughly unchanged on Friday but looked set to post a first weekly gain in four weeks as dollar weakness continued following a recent bout of softer inflation data.
Gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by $0.80 or 0.06%, to $1,321.40 a troy ounce.
Weaker inflation data seen earlier this week continued to drive direction, prompting traders to scale back their expectations for a faster pace of Federal Reserve rate hikes, pressuring both the 10-yield treasury and the dollar, underpinning gold prices.
“The inflation threat is simply not materializing. This will take some wind out of the remaining Fed hawk's sails and put some of those rate hikes on the horizon in jeopardy,” Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi said on Thursday.
Gold is sensitive to moves lower in both bond yields and the U.S. dollar – A weaker dollar makes gold cheaper for holders of foreign currency. While a fall in U.S. bond yields, limits the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures fell 0.05% to $16.75 a troy ounce, while platinum futures added 0.08% to $925.80 an ounce.
Copper was flat to $3.110.