2019.04.2415:14:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Higher

Gold prices edged up on Wednesday, due largely to some bargain hunting after falling to a four-month low a session earlier. Gold's rise was also due to riskier equities taking a breather of sorts after having run up sharply in recent sessions.

A steady dollar amid growing signs of growth in the world's largest economy limited the yellow metal's rise.

The dollar hit its highest level in about 22 months, after most of its major rivals weakened on economic concerns.

The dollar index rose to 98.03, and was up by about 0.4% at 97.98 a little while ago.

Gold futures for June ended up $6.20, or less than 0.49%, at $1,279.60 an ounce.

On Tuesday, gold futures for June settled at $1,273.20 an ounce, down $4.40, or 0.34% from previous close.

Silver futures for May ended up $1.25, at $14.916 an ounce, while Copper futures for May settled at $2.9100 per pound, adding $0.0165 to its previous close.

Recent data out of the U.S. and China have been quite encouraging. Last week, China reported a better than expected 6.4% GDP growth in the first quarter of 2019 and a sharp 8.7% jump in retail sales in March.

On Tuesday, a Commerce Department report showed that new home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly jumped to their highest level in well over a year in the month of March.

The report said new home sales surged up by 4.5% to an annual rate of 692,000 in March after soaring by 5.9% to a revised rate of 662,000 in February.

The continued increase surprised economists, who had expected new home sales to drop by 2.5% to a rate of 650,000 from the 667,000 originally reported for the previous month.

With the unexpected spike, new home sales reached their highest annual rate since hitting 712,000 in November of 2017.

Markets are now awaiting U.S. GDP data for the fourth quarter, due on Friday.