Gold Gives Back Ground After Yesterday's Rally

(RTTNews) - After moving sharply higher in the previous session, the price of gold gave back some ground during trading on Friday.

Gold for April delivery slid $10.70 to $1,254.30 an ounce after surging up $35.20 to $1,265 an ounce in the previous session.

The pullback by the price of gold came as traders cashed in on yesterday's rally, which came as traders reacted to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement from Wednesday.

As was widely expected, the Fed left interest rates unchanged in a range from 0.25 percent to 0.50 percent, although Kansas City Fed President Esther George preferred raising rates by a quarter point.

The central bank's revised forecast for interest rates also showed that officials now expect only two rate hikes by the end of this year compared to the four predicted back in December.

With the pullback on the day, the price of gold closed modestly lower for the week, slipping $5.10 an ounce or 0.4 percent.