Forexpros – Gold futures ended Friday’s session higher, supported by ongoing expectations that central banks around the world would soon announce additional stimulus measures to help spur weak global growth.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for October delivery settled at USD1,620.25 a troy ounce by close of trade on Friday.
Earlier in the day, prices hit a session high of USD1,626.85 a troy ounce, the highest since July 31. On the week, gold futures rose by 0.85%.
Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,603.95 a troy ounce, the low from August 8 and near-term resistance at USD1,629.25, the high from July 31.
Data on Friday showed that Chinese exports grew just 1.0% on the year in July, down from the 11.3% gain seen in June, while imports rose 4.7% year-over-year, down from 6.3% in June.
The weak data fuelled speculation that policymakers in China will take fresh steps to stimulate the world’s second largest economy with monetary policy tools, which boosts gold’s role as currency alternative.
Elsewhere, ongoing concerns over the deteriorating financial situation in the euro zone further supported demand for the precious metal.
Earlier in the week, weaker-than-forecast German data underlined concerns over the impact of the long running debt crisis on the region’s largest economy.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank said in its monthly bulletin that the economic outlook for the euro zone faced a number of downside risks, with financial market tensions and their potential impact on growth posing the key threats.
The ECB revised down its forecast for economic growth to 0.6% in 2013, down from 1% previously and forecast a 0.3% contraction in growth this year, slightly worse than its previous forecast of for a 0.2% contraction.
Meanwhile, optimism that the ECB will soon move to cut high Spanish and Italian borrowing costs faded as investors waited for more details of the bank’s proposed bond buying program to emerge.
Gold prices also remained underpinned by ongoing speculation the Federal Reserve will introduce fresh easing measures to boost U.S. economic growth.
Market participants will be watching U.S. data on retail sales, inflation and housing during the upcoming week in an attempt to assess the strength of the U.S. economic recovery.
The Fed’s Open Market Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for September 12 and 13.
Moves in the gold price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank would pump more money into the financial system.
Gold gained as much as 15% earlier this year to hit USD1,790 an ounce after the Fed said in January it would keep interest rates near zero until at least late 2014 and indicated that it could introduce a fresh round of asset-purchases.
However, prices have lost almost 11% since late February, as the Fed failed to deliver more easing and amid concerns over the euro zone’s deepening debt crisis, which has fueled demand for the precious metal’s hedge, the greenback.
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for September delivery settled at USD28.05 a troy ounce by close of trade on Friday, adding 1.1% on the week.
Meanwhile, copper for September delivery gained 1.1% over the week to settle at USD3.402 a pound.
Copper prices came under pressure Friday, as worries over a slowdown in demand from top consumer China reduced the appeal of the industrial metal.
China’s factory output growth slowed unexpectedly in July, while retail sales also disappointed.
In the week ahead, market participants will be awaiting data on second quarter growth from the euro zone and looking ahead to central bank minutes from the Bank of Japan and the BoE, amid ongoing speculation that world central banks may take steps to shore up economic growth.
Investors will also watching U.S. data on retail sales, inflation and housing.
Gold traders pay close attention to U.S. data releases for clues as to the likelihood of a fresh round of monetary easing, which could potentially hurt the dollar and support gold.
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