Investing.com — Gold prices rose in Asian trading on Friday and were within sight of a record high as a rout in global markets amid worries about an economic slowdown fueled safe-haven buying in the yellow metal.
Bullion saw strong gains this week as bets on US interest rate cuts weighed on the dollar and hurt government bond yields. Increased tensions in the Middle East, following the assassination of a Hamas leader, also boosted demand for safe havens for the yellow metal.
rose 0.5% to $2,458.49 per ounce, while the December expiration rose 0.9% to $2,502.60 per ounce at 01:18 ET (05:18 GMT).
Gold Heads for Weekly Gains; nonfarm payrolls waited
Spot prices are expected to rise more than 3% this week, their best week since March.
The yellow metal benefited from safe-haven demand as weak purchasing managers’ index and US employment data increased concerns about a slowdown in the world’s largest economy.
The data sparked sharp declines on Wall Street that spilled over into Asian trading and sparked a broad risk-off move. This fueled bids for gold as a safe haven.
The weak data also came after the Federal Reserve noted the potential for a rate cut in September, leaving markets almost fully pricing in a 25 basis point rate cut for the month.
The focus was now on upcoming figures, for more signals about the US economy. A cooling labor market fuels the prospect of Fed rate cuts.
Lower interest rates bode well for precious metals prices as they lower the opportunity cost of investing in non-yielding assets.
rose 0.7% to $977.25 per ounce, while the price rose 1.6% to $28.925 per ounce.
Copper handles weekly losses amid growth fears
Among industrial metals, copper prices recovered on Friday but headed for a fourth straight week of losses on growing concerns that a global economic slowdown will hurt demand.
The benchmark on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.2% to $9,073.0 per tonne, while the index rose 0.6% in one month to $4.0900 per pound. Both contracts fell slightly this week and were forecast for the fourth straight week of losses.
Copper losses were driven by weak PMI data from both the US and China, which showed a slowdown in manufacturing activity.
