• Gold prices edged up on Friday, after falling from 1-1/2-year highs in the previous session, as the dollar remained weak despite U.S. President Donald Trump backing a stronger currency.
Spot gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,351.40 per ounce at 0333 GMT. The metal has gained 1.5 percent so far this week.
Spot gold hit 1,366.07 on Thursday, highest since Aug. 3, 2016, reversing gains after Trump told CNBC in Davos, Switzerland, that he wants to see a strong dollar.
U.S. gold futures were down 0.9 percent at $1,351.10 per ounce.
• Trump's comment contradicted comments made by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin a day earlier.
• The dollar weakness is continuing to support gold prices, helping to hold them steady despite Trump's comments, said Peter Fung, head of dealing at Wing Fung Precious Metals in Hong Kong.
"There is some very good support for gold on the downside around $1,340 and a resistance around $1,360," he said.
• The dollar index, a measure of the greenback against a basket of currencies, hit its weakest since December 2014 at 88.438 on Thursday. It was last down 0.3 percent at 89.154.
• "While catching short-term speculators off guard, the gold price retracement will not threaten long-term positions whose view are cemented around a probable equity market correction and an extension of the U.S. dollar downtrend," Stephen Innes, APAC trading head at OANDA said.
• The break above $1,330 has given fuel to gold's rally and the first target of this movement could be seen at $1,375, ActivTrades chief analyst Carlo Alberto de Casa said.
"If the gold price jumps above this level, the rally could continue with targets at $1,390 and potentially at $1,415 ... We will have a negative signal only if prices fall below $1,295-$1,300," Alberto de Casa said.
• Spot silver rose 0.8 percent to $17.43. It touched its highest in more than four months at $17.69 on Thursday.
• Platinum edged up 0.2 percent to $1,012.70. Prices hit their highest since February 2017 on Thursday at $1,027.60.
• Palladium fell 0.1 percent to $1,094.50. Palladium was on track for its second straight weekly loss, dropping nearly 1 percent so far this week.
• Gold prices are starting the new year in stellar fashion and investors should see further gains throughout the year, according to analysts at GFMS Thomson Reuters.
In its fourth quarter 2017 Gold Survey, published Thursday, the research team said that they could see prices rallying to $1,500 an ounce at some point in 2018 with gold averaging the year at $1,360 an ounce.
“We believe that the geopolitical climate and equity markets will continue to support gold’s role as a risk hedge,” they said in its report. “Our forecast discounts three Fed rate hikes, although a potential overheating from the effect of the new tax reform could lead to more aggressive tightening, limiting gold’s upside.”
GFMS’s outlook comes as gold prices pushed to a 1.5-year high on the back of a weaker U.S. dollar. The U.S. Dollar Index fell to its lowest level since December 2014 after U.S. Secretary Treasurer said that a weaker U.S. dollar is “good” for the U.S. economy.
Reference: Reuters,Kitco
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