2023.03.2418:10:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Lower As Dollar Rises

Gold futures settled lower on Friday as the dollar rose, bouncing back from recent losses, amid hopes the Fed will continue with its monetary tightening to fight inflation.

The dollar index, which climbed to 103.36 in the European Session, pared some gains subsequently, but still held in positive territory at 103.12, gaining nearly 0.6%.

Gold futures for April ended lower by $12.10 or about 0.6% at $1,983.80 an ounce.

Silver futures for May ended up $0.083 at $23.339 an ounce, while Copper futures for May settled at $4.0750 per pound, down $0.0485 from the previous close.

In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing a continued slump in orders for transportation equipment led to an unexpected decrease in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the month of February.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders slid by 1% in February after plummeting by a revised 5% in January.

Economists had expected durable goods orders to increase by 0.6% compared to the 4.5% plunge that had been reported for the previous month.

Excluding the steep drop in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders were unchanged in February after rising by 0.4% in January. Ex-transportation orders were expected to inch up by 0.2%.