26.11.202118:03:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Slightly Higher

Gold futures settled higher on Friday as worries about growth following a detection of a new coronavirus variant, said to be vaccine-resistant, prompted investors to shun riskier assets and seek the safe-have commodity.

However, gold's gain was just marginal as traders cut down commitments, choosing to build up cash.

The dollar index dropped to 96.02, giving up about 0.8%.

Gold futures for December ended up by $1.20 at $1,785.50 an ounce, well off the day's high of $1,816.30 an ounce. There was no settlement for the contract on Thursday as the exchange was closed for the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Gold futures shed 3.6% in the week.

Silver futures for December ended lower by $0.389 or about 1.6% at $23.107 an ounce, while Copper futures for December settled at $4.2835 per pound, down $0.1755 or nearly 4% from the previous close.

Silver futures lost almost 7% in the week, while Copper futures shed about 2.7%.

Amid mounting worries over the global spread of new Covid-19 variant that was first identified in South Africa, the U.K. and Israel temporarily suspended flights from six African countries to prevent the spread of the variant.

The variant, known as the B.1.1.529, was found to be different from previous versions and pose great concern, scientists warned.

The World Health Organization, which held an emergency meeting today, declared the new virus variant a matter of concern, noting its transmissibility and named it the omicron variant of the coronavirus.