2021.06.1118:48:00UTC+00Gold Futures Settle At Over 1-week Low As Dollar Advances

Gold prices drifted lower on Friday, pushing the most active gold futures contracts to their lowest close in more than a week, as the dollar gained in strength against other major currencies.

Traders' focus shifted to the Federal Reserve's policy meeting, scheduled to take place on June 15-16.

Although data released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed a bigger than expected 5% increase in U.S. consumer prices in May, analysts are of the view that rising price pressures will be transitory and the Fed will not withdraw monetary support any time soon.

The dollar index advanced to 90.61, gaining about 0.6%. The index dropped to a low of 89.96 in the Asian session, but climbed higher as the day progressed.

Gold futures for August ended down by $16.80 or about 0.9% at $1,879.60 an ounce, the lowest close since June 3.

Silver futures for July ended higher by $0.115 at $28.146 an ounce, while Copper futures for July settled at $4.5375 per pound, down $0.0525 from the previous close.

Preliminary data released by the University of Michigan today showed a bigger than expected rebound in U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of June.

The report said the consumer sentiment index climbed to 86.4 in June after falling to 82.9 in May. Economists had expected the index to rise to 84.0.

The index of consumer expectations jumped to 83.8 in June from 78.8 in May, while the current economic conditions index inched up to 90.6 from 89.4.