Gold Ends Lower Ahead Of Fed Policy Meet; Sheds 2.4% For Week

(RTTNews) - Gold futures ended lower on Friday, with investors looking forward to the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy meet outcome next week, for cues into its interest rate hike plans. The precious metal was also impacted after some upbeat manufactured durable good data from the U.S., even as the dollar continued to fluctuate.

For the week, gold futures dropped about 2.4 percent.

The safe haven appeal of the precious metal has been diminished of late due to rising equity markets. Speculation that the Federal Reserve will soon raise interest rates has also weighed on gold.

In some upbeat economic news, new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods increased much more than expected in March, a report from the Commerce Department showed Friday. The jump was attributed primarily to strength in the volatile transportation sector.

Gold for June delivery, the most actively traded contract, dropped $19.30 or 1.6 percent to settle at $1,175.00 an ounce, on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday.

Gold for June delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,195.40 and a low of $1,174.10 an ounce.

On Thursday, gold futures gained $7.40 or 0.6 percent to settle at $1,194.30 an ounce, as the dollar trended lower against a basket of major currencies on some weak new home sales and unemployment benefit claims data from the U.S.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, remained unchanged at 742.35 tons from its previous close of 739.06 tons.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 96.99 on Friday, down from its previous close of 97.31 on Thursday in late North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 97.56 intraday and a low of 96.76.

The euro trended higher against the dollar at $1.0856 on Friday, as compared to its previous close of $1.0825 in North American trade late Thursday. The euro scaled a high of $1.0901 intraday and a low of $1.0785.

On the economic front, new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods increased more than expected in March, a report from the Commerce Department showed Friday, due primarily to strength in the volatile transportation sector. The report said durable goods orders surged up by 4.0 percent in March after slumping by 1.4 percent in February. Economists had expected orders to edge up by just 0.5 percent.

German business confidence strengthened for the sixth straight month to a 10-month high in April reflecting the continuing upswing in the economy, but firms turned less optimistic about the business outlook.

The business confidence index rose more-than-expected to 108.6 in April from 107.9 in March, the results of a survey by Munich-based Ifo Institute showed Friday. This was the highest score since June 2014, when it stood at 109.4. The indicator was forecast to rise moderately to 108.4 in April.

The total value of orders received by the German construction industry increased in February from a year ago, figures from Destatis showed Friday. Orders in the construction sector climbed a price-adjusted 0.7 percent year-over-year in February.

British households perceive that the value of their home increased in April, a survey from Knight Frank and Markit Economic showed Friday. The house price sentiment index, or HPSI, rose to 58.2 in March from 57.5 in the previous month. This marked the twenty-fifth consecutive month of the index remaining above 50.