Gold futures fell on optimism about a partial agreement in US-China trade talks and talk of progress on Brexit.
Around the time gold futures settled, media reports (later confirmed) said the US and China had reached a tentative partial agreement that may lead to a truce in the trade war.
As part of the pact, China would agree to some agricultural concessions, while the US would provide some relief on tariffs.
But the deal won’t be settled for four to five weeks and there’s still the question of the December 15 lift in tariffs on $US160 billion of Chinese imports.
Comex December gold fell $US12.20, or 0.8%, to settle at $US1,488.70 an ounce, falling further below the psychologically significant level at $US1,500, but ending above the day’s low of $US1,478. In late electronic trading, gold picked up ground to close around $US1,493 an ounce.
The most-active gold futures contract recorded its lowest settlement and sharpest daily slump since the end of last month, according to figures from FactSet.
For the week, gold lost 1.6% – the biggest weekly percentage drop for the contract in over seven months.
Comex December silver lost 5.8 cents, or 0.3%, to end at $US17.544 an ounce, for a weekly dip of 0.5%.
Meanwhile December copper added 0.6% to $US2.628 a pound, for a solid weekly rise of 2.6%.
Physical iron ore prices were rangebound on Friday.
The Metal Bulletin Fastmarkets benchmark iron ore index price for 62% Fe fines ended at $US93.76 per tonne, up by $0.08 a tonne and up 68 cents over the week.
However, the index price 62% Fe Pilbara Blend fines (the typical product from Rio Tinto and BHP) ended at $US92.25 per tonne, down by $US1.98 a tonne or 2%.
