Gold futures rose Friday after in the wake of better than expected first-quarter economic growth in the US surprised markets.
GDP rose at an annual 3.2% in the March quarter – thanks to big contributions from trade but also a worrying build-up of unsold business stockpiles.
Consumer spending and business investment slowed noticeably, but that was ignored.
The gain was well above forecasts for a 2.3% increase in GDP and was much faster than the 2.2% rate in the final three months of 2018.
So Comex gold futures for June delivery jumped $9.10 or 0.7%, to settle at $US1,288.80 an ounce. That was a weekly gain of 1%.
Comex May silver rose 12.6 cents, or 0.9%, to $US15.005 an ounce, for a small weekly rise of 0.3%.
Comex May copper rose 0.9% to $2.887 a pound but still lost 1.1% for the week.
July platinum rose 1.6% to $US903.60 an ounce—down 10 US cents for the week, while June palladium closed at $US1,447.20 an ounce, up 2.9% for the day and 3.5% for the week.
A fall in the US dollar for the day helped gold (but not oil) and some metals. The US dollar remains around near 2 year highs against the euro. The Aussie dollar ended at 70.42, down on the week but up from the brief dip under 70 US cents on Thursday.
The 10-year Treasury note yield closed at 2.50%, down 3 points on the day. the Aussie 10 year Treasury bond yield fell one point on Friday to 1.77%.
Iron ore prices finished higher over the week on Friday and closed up 8 US cents to $US93.58 a tonne for 62% Fe ore, according to the Metal Bulletin. That was $US1.48 a tonne or 1.6% higher from the previous week’s close.
