WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices edged lower on Friday as riskier assets such as equities rebounded after Thursday's terrible setback, and the dollar stayed firm for a second successive session.
Bargain hunting, more than any significantly positive news, contributed to the surge in global stock markets today. The yellow metal's fall was just modest as worries about near term economic outlook and fears about another round of coronavirus attack continued to weigh on sentiment.
Weak data on eurozone industrial production and U.K. GDP raised concerns about the economy and contributed to gold's uptick early on in the session.
The dollar index rose to 97.45, gaining about 0.75%
Gold futures ended down $2.50 or 0.1% at $1,737.30 an ounce.
Gold futures gained about 3.2% in the week.
Silver futures for July ended down $0.407 or about 2.3% at $17.482 an ounce, while Copper futures for July ended up $0.0135 or 0.5% at $2.6000 per pound.
According to a report from the University of Michigan, U.S. consumer sentiment improved in June, after nosediving in March and April, and rebounding modestly in May.
The preliminary report showed the consumer sentiment index for June climbed to 78.6 from 72.3 in May and 71.8 in April. Economists had expected the index to rise 75.0.
A report from the Labor Department said U.S. import prices surged up by 1% in May after plunging by 2.6% in April. Economists had expected import prices to increase by 0.6%. The rebound in import prices came as fuel prices spiked by 20.5% in May following the 31% percent nosedive in the previous month.
Excluding the jump in fuel prices, import prices inched up by just 0.1% in May after falling by 0.5% in April.
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