SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures settled lower Friday, weighed down by expectations Egypt’s president may be getting closer to his resignation, a stronger dollar, and a previous session’s rally that left the metal vulnerable to a price correction ahead of the weekend.
Copper notched a fresh record high, settling at $4.58 a pound. Platinum settled at its best since July 2008.
Gold for April delivery /quotes/comstock/21e!f:gc\h11 (GCH11 1,349, -4.00, -0.30%) /quotes/comstock/21e!f:gc\h11 (GCH11 1,349, -4.00, -0.30%) settled $4 lower, or 0.3%, at $1,349 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold advanced 0.6% on the week.
The metal dipped in and out of positive territory earlier. It took a definite turn for the worse, however, on reports the U.S. government was pressuring Hosni Mubarak to resign.
“Some geopolitical risk is coming off based on the reports Mubarak may resign,” said Matt Zeman, a trader at LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago.
A stronger dollar and, more broadly, a sense that positive global macroeconomic news may bring a cycle of monetary tightening also made the day tougher for gold, he added.
April gold rallied 1.6% on Thursday, settling at its best since Jan. 19. On the week, the metal
Earlier Friday, the Labor Department reported the unemployment rate fell unexpectedly to 9% in January.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected an uptick to 9.5% compared to 9.4% in December.
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