Investing.com – Gold prices edged up on Friday, with the ongoing tension over Syria cited as supportive for the yellow metal.
Gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was down $0.8, or 0.06%, to $1,342.8 a troy ounce by 12:32AM ET (04:32 GMT).
Prices gained on tensions over Syria. However, U.S. president Trump said later on Thursday that the attack on Syria “could be very soon or not so soon at all” sent the dollar firmer earlier in the day and weighed on the dollar-denominated gold.
The U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies last stood at 89.27. The dollar tumbled to 89.09 overnight as U.S. trade outlook remained uncertain despite improving risk appetite amid the easing geopolitical worries over Syria, but gradually recovered on Thursday late morning.
Dollar-denominated assets such as gold are sensitive to moves in the dollar – a gain in the dollar makes gold more expensive for holders of foreign currency and thus decreases demand for the precious metal.
Gold prices dropped 1.3% on Thursday, the biggest one-day percentage fall since March 28.
In other precious metal trade, silver futures fell 0.12% to $16.305 a troy ounce, and platinum futures slipped 0.02% to $954.60 an ounce.