Gold ticked higher early Friday, with the yellow metal on track for a fifth straight weekly gain as investors monitor falling bond yields and fears of an economic downturn.Price action
Gold for February delivery
GC00,
+0.10%
GCG23,
+0.10%
rose $6, or 0.3%, to $1,930 an ounce on Comex, on track for a weekly rise of 0.4%. Gold has rallied roughly 5.7% so far in 2023 and is trading at a nearly 9-month high.
March silver
SIH23,
+0.52%
rose 18 cents, or 0.8%, to $24.05 an ounce.
April platinum
PLJ23,
-1.06%
fell $6.60, or 0.6%, to $1,034.50 an ounce, while March palladium
PAH23,
-2.54%
dropped $45, or 2.5%, to $1,723.50 an ounce.
March copper
HGH23,
-0.53%
was down 2 cents, or 0.5%, at $4.2115 a pound.
Market drivers Gold has found support as Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar have retreated from late 2022 highs as investors have monitored a slowdown in inflation.
Yields were higher on Friday but on track for a weekly decline. Lower yields reduce the opportunity cost of holding nonyielding assets like gold. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
+0.41%
was on track for a weekly gain but has retreated around 11% from a 20-year high set in October. A weaker dollar can be supportive for commodities priced in the unit, making them less expensive to users of other currencies. “The fact that gold has been able to make such large gains, to now be trading close to its highest level since April, even though another rate hike is near certain when the Fed next meets, continues to surprise. Gold really has caught a fair wind and is sailing ever higher on it,” said Rupert Rowling, market analyst at Kinesis Money, in a note. “The lingering concern remains however that gold has climbed so much already before the Fed, and other central banks, actually hit pause on their rate hikes and this leaves the precious metal highly vulnerable to a sudden price drop if interest rates don’t stop climbing as soon as anticipated,” he wrote.