WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices ended higher on Friday, extending gains to a second straight session, after suffering some severe setbacks earlier in the week.
Positive reaction to the relief and support packages announced by central banks and several governments across the globe prompted traders to pick up the safe-haven asset for a second successive day.
However, the safe-haven asset's gains in the end was substantially lower than what they were early on in the session.
The dollar index, which began the day on a weak note, recovered some lost ground and was trading at 102.56 about an hour past noon, trailing its previous close by 0.18%.
Gold futures for April ended up $5.30, or about 0.4%, at $1,484.60 an ounce, after scaling a high of $1,519.40 and a low of $1,457.50 an ounce.
Gold futures lost about 2.1% in the week, posting their second straight weekly loss.
Silver futures for May ended higher by $0.251 at $12.385 an ounce today, while Copper futures for May settled at $2.1715 per pound, down $0.0140 from previous close.
The Federal Reserve said today that it will establish temporary swap lines with other nine central banks as part of coordinated action to improve liquidity in the financial markets.
In a joint statement, the Fed said it will extend U.S. dollar liquidity arrangements with the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Banco Central do Brasil, the Danmarks Nationalbank, the Bank of Korea, the Banco de Mexico, the Norges Bank, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Sveriges Riksbank.
The Fed has standing US dollar swap lines with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank.
The swap facility will be in place for at least six months, the Fed said.
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