WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices moved higher on Friday as reports showing a surge in new coronavirus infections raised possibilities of another lockdown.
Despite China claiming that the rise in coronavirus cases reported earlier in the week is currently under control, several states in America have seen marked spikes in new coronavirus cases this week.
The massive stimulus measures announced by global central banks and governments notwithstanding, there are concerns the economic recovery may not be any significantly quick, and this makes gold a strong safe-haven bet.
The dollar index, meanwhile, was up at 97.58, about 0.16% from previous close, after having rallied to 97.72 from an early low of 97.16.
Gold futures for August ended up $21.90 or about 1.3% at 1,753.00 an ounce, the highest finish in more than a month.
For the week, gold futures gained about 0.9%.
Silver futures for July ended up $0.339 or nearly 2% at $17.847, while Copper futures for July moved up $0.0230 or 0.9% to $2.6110 per pound.
'The pandemic is actually accelerating,' according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It said reports of a record of more than 150,000 new cases were received on Thursday.
WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu told reporters that about half of those new cases came from the Americas. 'The world is in a new and dangerous phase,' Tedros said. 'We call on all countries and all people to exercise extreme vigilance.'
The U.S. has the highest case toll in the world at 2.19 million and the highest death toll at 118,467, with 20 states, including Florida, Texas and Georgia, still seeing daily increases in infections.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX