Investing.com - Gold prices headed lower on Friday as a stronger dollar dented demand for the precious metal, but it was still on track for its first weekly climb in four as investors recentered their attention on the Federal Reserve.
At 11:14 AM ET (15:14 GMT), gold futures for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $9.00, or 0.74%, to $1,202.30 a troy ounce.
Meanwhile, the?EUR?U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.33% to 93.78, paring weekly losses to around 1.5%.
The fall in dollar this week came as safe-haven demand for the U.S. currency ebbed amid continued relief that fresh U.S. and Chinese tariffs on reciprocal imports were less harsh than originally feared.
On Monday, the U.S. slapped tariffs of 10% on $200 billion in Chinese goods, before they rise to 25% by the end of 2018, rather than an outright 25%.
China retaliated by putting tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods. However, China will put a 10% tariff on some goods it had previously earmarked for a 20% levy.
A stronger dollar dampens demand for gold as it makes dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.
The precious metal has dropped more than 10% from a peak in April as escalating U.S.-China trade dispute and rising U.S. interest rates were cited as catalysts for the selling in gold.
After an economic report released Friday showed that U.S. private sector business activity had slowed to a 17-month low in September, investors looked ahead to the next Fed?EUR?policy decision?EUR?to be announced on Sept. 26.
While a rate hike is a foregone conclusion, markets will pay close attention to the Fed’s economic projections to see its forecasts for interest rates, particularly in 2019.
In other metals trading, silver futures gained 0.42% at $14.365 a troy ounce by 11:16 AM ET (15:16 GMT).
Palladium futures rose 1.31% to $1,044.30 an ounce, while sister metal platinum traded up 0.79% at $828.40.
In base metals, copper jumped 3.98% to $2.849 a pound.