Gold rises, heads for weekly gain on soft dollar

Gold prices rose on Friday, to resume gains after hitting a pause yesterday on profit-taking from a 5-week high, to head for a weekly gain on the US dollar drop against a basket of currencies.

Gold prices rose by 0.3% to $1,471.68, after opening at $1,466.75, and hit a session-low of $1,461.76.

The yellow metal lost 0.4% yesterday, to post its first daily loss in 4 days, on profit-taking from a 5-week high of $1,486.74 an ounce.

Alongside profit-taking, gold prices fell after the US president's upbeat remarks that renewed hopes about the US and China reaching a trade deal.

President Trump tweeted yesterday the US is very close to reaching a big trade deal with China, which comes ahead of the deadline for the US tariffs hike on Chinese imports.

During this week, gold prices gained 0.8% so far, to head for the second weekly gain in the last 3 weeks, buoyed by the US dollar drop against a basket of currencies.

The US dollar index fell to its 5-month low of 96.59 points on Thursday, to deepen its losses for fourth straight day, as sell-off continued on the US currency against a basket of major currencies.

This drop in US dollar came after US Federal Reserve decided in a widely expected move to hold interest rates unchanged and hinted a pause in 2020, leading to increased sell-off and short selling.

Gold holdings at the SPDR Gold Trust, remained unchanged yesterday at a total of 886.22 metric tonnes, (the lowest since Sept.18.)