Gold Ends A Tad Lower, Gains 0.5% For Week

(RTTNews) - Gold futures ended slightly higher on Friday, on worries over a slowing European economy and the unrest in Ukraine supporting the precious metal, after an unexpected drop in U.S. consumer sentiment and a better-than-expected jump in housing starts.

Nonetheless, gold futures gained 0.5 percent for the week.

Gold for June delivery, the most actively traded contract, dropped $0.20 percent to close at $1,293.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday.

Gold for June delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,298.30 and a low of $1,287.70 an ounce.

On Thursday, gold futures ended lower on some mixed economic data, although reports showed the U.S. economy to be on the path to recovery.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose to 782.25 tons on Friday, from its previous close of 780.46 tons.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 80.03 on Friday, up from its previous close of 80.02 late Thursday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 80.12 intraday and a low of 79.97.

The euro traded lower against the dollar at $1.3701 on Friday, as compared to its previous close of $1.3710 late Thursday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.3727 intraday and a low of $1.3686.

In economic news from the U.S., housing starts surged by a better than expected 13.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.072 million in April from the revised March estimate of 947,000. Economists expected housing starts to climb to a rate of 980,000 from the 946,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, also jumped 8.0 percent to an annual rate of 1.080 million in April from the revised March rate of 1.0 million.

Meanwhile, a report from Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan showed an unexpected deterioration in U.S. consumer sentiment in May, with the index falling to 81.7, from 84.1 in the previous month. Economists expected the index to inch up to a reading of 84.5.