Gold prices ended lower on Friday, pulling back from their highest level in more than two months as U.S. and global stocks moved up in the wake of a two-day downturn that drove investors to the perceived safety of the precious metal.
December gold GCZ8, -0.49% declined by $5.60, or nearly 0.5%, to settle at $1,222 an ounce, a day after its highest finish since Aug. 1, for a most-active contract, according to FactSet data. Meanwhile, December SIZ8, +0.16% silver rose 2.9 cents, or 0.2%, to $14.635 an ounce, following a 2% gain on Thursday.
For the week, gold climbed 1.4% - its second weekly rise in a row, while silver ended the week roughly 0.1% lower, based on last Friday's settlements for the contracts.
See AlsoGold's Thursday rally was "a combination of a haven and short covering momentum, but leaves the current landscape extremely shaky if both stocks and U.S. rates markets recovered significantly in the days ahead," said Stephen Innes, Asia-Pacific head of trading at Oanda.
Friday's retreat for the precious metal occurred as the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.15% S&P 500 SPX, +1.42% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +2.29% headed higher following sharp declines in the past two sessions.
Recent equity-market volatility has been underpinned by concerns over rising Treasury ratesTMUBMUSD10Y, +0.34% A rapid rise in rates also has coincided with weakness in the U.S. dollar, which has helped to remove a headwind for the precious commodity. Gold tends to gain when the dollar is weaker because the assets become relatively more attractive to buyers using other monetary units.
On Friday, one popular measure of the buck, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.21% was up 0.2% at 95.246, but it was trading around 0.4% lower for the week.
"The key question is can this surge [in gold] be sustained?" said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank.
"Our view is likely no," he said. "Higher U.S. interest rates, with the [Federal Reserve] likely to raise rates at their December meeting and still solid U.S. economic growth likely keep rates higher and limit further upside to gold."
The Fed has hiked interest rates three times this year and may do so a fourth time before year-end, which could provide some resistance to gold bulls because rising rates are likely to juice the dollar and make risk-free government bonds a more attractive investment when compared against bullion.
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