WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold futures snapped a four-day losing streak and ended modestly higher on Friday despite falling into the red earlier in the session.
While worries about aggressive policy tightening by major central banks weighed on gold prices earlier in the day, a drop in long term Treasury yields following a soft ISM Manufacturing report pulled the yellow metal out from lower levels.
A firm dollar limited gold's uptick. The dollar index climbed to 105.64 around mid morning, but gave up some gains as the session progressed. It was hovering around 105.30 a little while ago, gaining about 0.6%.
Gold futures for August ended lower by $5.80 at $1,801.50 an ounce, recovering from a low of $1,783.40.
Silver futures for September ended down by $0.685 or about 3.4% at $19.667 an ounce, the lowest settlement since July 2020.
Copper futures for September settled at $3.6095, down $0.1060 from the previous close.
A report from the Institute for Supply Management showed the pace of growth in U.S. manufacturing activity slowed by more than expected in the month of June. The ISM said its manufacturing PMI slid to 53.0 in June from 56.1 in May, although a reading above 50 still indicates growth in the sector. Economists had expected the index to dip to 54.9.
With the bigger than expected decrease, the manufacturing PMI slumped to its lowest level since hitting 52.4 in June of 2020.
Data from the Commerce Department showed U.S. construction spending unexpectedly edged lower in the month of May. The report showed construction spending edged down by 0.1% to an annual rate of $1.780 trillion in May after climbing by 0.8% to an upwardly revised rate of $1.783 trillion in April.
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