Gold Ends Lower On Strong Dollar, Shutdown

(RTTNews) - Gold futures ended lower on Friday after fluctuating for much of the day, mostly as the dollar trended higher with investors focused on the implications of the partial U.S. government shutdown that enters the fourth day and on debt ceiling worries.

For the week, gold prices shed 2.2 percent.

Gold for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, dropped $7.70 or 0.6 percent to close at $1,309.90 an ounce Friday on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold for December delivery scaled an intraday high of $1,326.00 and a low of $1,305.10 an ounce.

Yesterday, gold settled lower after some data out of the U.S. showed initial jobless claims for unemployment benefits rose less than expected in last week, even as activity in the service sector dropped more than anticipated.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, moved down to 899.99 tons from 901.79 tons.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against six major currencies, traded at 80.16 on Friday, up from 79.73 late Thursday in North American trade. The dollar scaled a high of 80.19 intraday and a low of 79.68.

The euro traded lower against the dollar at $1.3555 on Friday, as compared to its previous close of $1.3618 late Thursday in North America. The euro scaled a high of $1.3631 intraday and a low of $1.3540.

In economic news from the eurozone, Germany's producer prices declined in August, data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed. The producer price index fell 0.5 percent year-on-year in August following a flat reading in July. On a monthly basis, the PPI fell 0.1 percent. Economists expected prices to remained unchanged on both counts.

Eurozone industrial producer prices dropped 0.8 percent in August from a year ago, largely due to a sharp fall in energy prices, Eurostat reported. Economists had forecast producer prices to fall 0.5 percent after staying flat in July.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan on Friday decided to hold its monetary easing plan unchanged while maintaining its economic assessment. At the end of a two-day meeting of the nine-member Policy Board, the central bank said it will keep the target for the monetary base expansion at an annual pace of JPY 60-70 trillion. The decision to refrain from any fresh policy moves was in line with expectations.