Gold Prices Finish Higher Again

(RTTNews) - Gold moved higher again on Friday amid choppy trading. July gold closed at $885.80, up $3.70 on the session. For the week, the precious metal added $27.80 an ounce after seeing weakness last week.

The metal turned to the upside on Thursday in U.S. trading and reclaimed its losses from the day before. Gold closed up $10.90 on the session. The metal moved to as high as $887.00 in mid-morning trading. The precious moved higher as the dollar moved lower against its other majors. The greenback slipped away from recent highs against the euro and sterling as traders collected profits on the recent rally.

Prices had turned lower on Wednesday in early U.S. trading and after three straight days of gains. June gold moved to $871.20, down $6.50 on the session. The precious metal added to its recent rally with another positive session on Tuesday. Prices also climbed on Friday and Monday and erased part of last week’s slump.

On Friday morning, the Department of Commerce released its report on U.S. international trade in goods and services in the month of March, showing that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed by much more than economists had been expecting. The report showed that the trade deficit narrowed to $58.2 billion in March from a revised $61.7 billion in February. Economists had expected the deficit to narrow to $61.3 billion from the $62.3 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The U.S. dollar backed away from recent highs against the euro and sterling and also dropped against the yen. Gold generally moves opposite the dollar because of the precious metal’s value as a safety outlet. Gold’s hedge value received another boost from crude oil prices, which soared higher than $126 a barrel before easing back.

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