OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures settled lower on Friday, as the dollar stayed somewhat steady. Despite losses in the session, the most active gold futures contract posted a weekly gain.
The dollar index, which advanced to 90.74 by mid morning, pared its gains and dropped to 90.38 a little past noon. It was last seen hovering at 90.45, up marginally from previous close.
Gold futures for April ended down $3.60 or about 0.2% at $1,823.20 an ounce. Gold futures gained about 0.6% in the week.
Silver futures for March ended up $0.281 at $27.328 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $3.7880 per pound, gaining $0.0165.
A report from the University of Michigan showed an unexpected decrease in U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of February. The report said the consumer sentiment index fell to 76.2 in February after edging down to 79.0 in January.
Economists had expected to index to inch up to 80.8. The decline by the headline index came as the index of consumer expectations slumped to 69.8 in February from 74.0 in the previous month.
The current economic conditions index showed a much more modest decrease, edging down to 86.2 in February from 86.7 in January.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX