Gold recovers from initial weakness to close roughly flat

(RTTNews) – After falling sharply in early trading, the price of gold regained ground during Friday’s trading day before closing roughly flat.

Gold for April delivery edged down $1.60 or 0.1% to $1,850.20 an ounce after falling to $1,827.70 an ounce. With the day’s slight drop, the price of gold fell 1.3% on the week.

The price of gold initially came under pressure from the strength in the value of the US dollar, with the US dollar index hitting its highest intraday level in over a month.

However, the US Dollar Index has pulled back well from its highs over the course of the day and is currently only up 0.1%.

The dollar’s pullback and subsequent rally in gold came as Treasury yields fell despite continued concerns about the interest rate outlook.

On the US economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a slight drop in US import prices in January.

The Labor Department said import prices fell 0.2% in January after edging down 0.1% in December.

Economists had expected import prices to fall 0.2% from the 0.4% increase originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said export prices rose 0.8% in January after falling 3.2% in December.

The increase surprised economists, who had expected export prices to fall 0.2% from the 2.6% fall originally forecast for the previous month.

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