Gold futures declined Friday on a muscular U.S. dollar, profit-taking, technical selling and potentially deflationary economic data.
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Gold futures declined Friday on a muscular U.S. dollar, profit-taking, technical selling and potentially deflationary economic data.
June gold sank $16.90, or nearly 1.8%, to settle at $925.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Dollar strength has been the culprit here," said Pat Donnelly, senior broker at Peak Trading Group.
The metal often moves inversely to the U.S. dollar because gold is seen as an alternative to the greenback. The dollar advanced against its major rivals Friday in New York as the rally in riskier currencies broke down ahead of key policy meetings next week. Shortly after gold closed, the ICE Futures U.S. dollar index was up more than 1.2%.
