2021.04.1619:10:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle At Near 8-week High

Gold futures moved higher on Friday and settled at near 8-week high, gaining in strength thanks to another drop in bond yields and a weaker dollar.

The dollar lost ground against most of its rivals and yields on long term U.S. Treasury Notes hovered around one-month lows, weighed down by dovish comments from Fed officials.

Earlier in the week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated his dovish stance on monetary policy and emphasized that any increase in inflation should be transitory. He also said the central bank will reduce its bond purchases before it commits to an interest rate increase.

The dollar index was down 0.14 or 0.16% at 91.55 a little while ago.

Gold futures for June ended up by $13.40 or about 0.8% at $1,780.20 an ounce. Gold futures gained about 2% in the week.

Silver futures for May ended higher by $0.141 at $26.105 an ounce, while Copper futures for May settled at $4.1680 per pound, down $0.0505 from previous close.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department on Friday U.S. housing starts skyrocketed by 19.4% to an annual rate of 1.739 million in March after plunging by 11.3% to a revised rate of 1.457 million in February.

Economists had expected housing starts to spike by 13.5% to a rate of 1.613 million from the 1.421 million originally reported for the previous month.

A report from the University of Michigan said the consumer sentiment index rose to 86.5 in April after soaring to 84.9 in March. Economists had expected the index to jump to 89.6.