Gold heads for third straight weekly loss

Gold prices fell on Friday, near a 4-month low, while on the cusp of the third straight weekly loss, due to weak safe-haven demand, amid a strong market sentiment due to the beginning of a smooth transition of power in the US, and positive news about Covid-19 vaccines.

Gold prices fell more than 0.4% to $1,802.96 an ounce, after opening at $1,810.80, and hit an intraday high of $1,813.75.

The yellow metal gained 0.1% yesterday, within recovery attempts from a 4-month low of $1,800.21 an ounce.

Gold prices lost more than 3.5% so far this week, heading for the third straight weekly loss, due to improved risk appetite and weak safe-haven demand.

The US General Services Administration officially announced that Democratic candidate Joe Biden has won the 2020 US presidential election, becoming the 46 US president and succeeding Republican President Donald Trump, whose term ends on January 20, 2021.

President Donald Trump on Monday gave the green light for the transition of power to the president-elect Joe Biden's team, and ordered his current team to cooperate with the new administration, which is considered as Trump's official conceding of the election, despite his comments of continuing the legal fight on the results.

John Biden is planning on appointing former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as Secretary of the US Treasury, which boosts odds for further fiscal and monetary stimulus to support the US economy amid the coronavirus crisis.

The British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced on Monday that its vaccine, developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford, was about 70% effective in preventing Covid-19 and can reach up to 90%.

The Russian authorities announced on Tuesday that the Sputnik-V vaccine is 95% effective in preventing Covid-19, according to the results from the final phase of clinical trials.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF remained unchanged yesterday, with the total at the lowest level since July 2 of 1,194.78 MT.