2020.09.1818:37:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle Modestly Higher On Safe-haven Appeal

Gold prices moved higher on Friday as falling equities amid rising worries about coronavirus cases and uncertainty about pace of economic recovery prompted traders to seek the safe haven asset.

The dollar was somewhat slippery today. Although the dollar index spent much of the session in the red, its loss was just marginal at 92.90 and this probably limited gold's upside.

Gold futures for December ended higher by $12.20 or about 0.6% at $1,962.10 an ounce.

Gold futures gained about 0.7% in the week, recording their gains for a second successive week.

Silver futures for December closed higher by $0.029 at $27.129 an ounce, while Copper futures for December ended with a gain of $0.0450 at $3.1160 per pound.

A report released by the Conference Board showed a continued increase by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of August, although the pace of growth slowed compared to recent months.

The Conference Board said its leading economic index jumped by 1.2% in August after surging up by 2% in July and spiking by 3.1% in June. Economists had expected the index to increase by 1.3%.

The University of Michigan's report showed consumer sentiment continued to improve in the month of September.

The preliminary report said the consumer sentiment index climbed to 78.9 in September from 74.1 in August. Economists had expected the index to show a much more modest uptick to 75.0.

The index reached its highest level since March but is still well below the pre-pandemic reading of 101.0 seen in February.