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Gold prices edged higher in Asian trading on Friday, but the precious metal remained on track for a weekly decline as a stronger U.S. dollar and rising Treasury yields offset safe-haven demand driven by escalating tensions in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By 01:29 ET (06:29 GMT)<\/strong>, spot gold rose 0.8% to $5,119.56 per ounce<\/strong>, while U.S. gold futures gained 0.3% to $5,128.81 per ounce<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite Friday\u2019s gains, gold was still down more than 3% for the week<\/strong>, pressured by a firm dollar and fading expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ongoing conflict in the Middle East entered its seventh day on Friday<\/strong>, with no clear signs of de-escalation, keeping global markets on edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fighting between the United States, Israel, and Iran<\/strong> has intensified over the past week, with missile strikes and retaliatory attacks spreading across the region and raising fears of disruptions to global energy supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to uncertainty, U.S. President Donald Trump<\/strong> said he wanted a role in determining Iran\u2019s next leadership once the conflict ends<\/strong>, highlighting the growing geopolitical stakes in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gold typically benefits from geopolitical instability and risk aversion, but the metal has struggled to sustain a rally this week as macroeconomic factors limited its upside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. Dollar Index slipped 0.3% on Friday<\/strong>, though it remained on track for a weekly gain of about 1.5%<\/strong>, keeping pressure on gold prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A stronger dollar makes gold more expensive for buyers using other currencies, reducing global demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, rising U.S. Treasury yields have also weighed on bullion by increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as gold<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, oil markets have seen a sharp rally amid fears that the Middle East conflict could disrupt critical energy infrastructure and shipping routes in the Gulf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oil prices are on track to rise more than 18% this week<\/strong>, raising concerns about a renewed wave of global inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Higher energy prices could complicate the policy outlook for central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve<\/strong>, as policymakers weigh inflation risks against economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investors are now turning their attention to the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for February<\/strong>, due later on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A stronger-than-expected reading could reinforce expectations that the Federal Reserve may delay interest rate cuts<\/strong>, which would likely keep upward pressure on the dollar and bond yields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elsewhere in the metals market:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In industrial metals, London Metal Exchange copper futures climbed 0.3% to $12,956.33 per ton<\/strong>, while U.S. copper futures advanced 0.4% to $5.84 per pound<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gold\u2019s near-term direction will likely depend on a combination of geopolitical developments in the Middle East and incoming U.S. economic data<\/strong>, particularly signals that could influence the Federal Reserve\u2019s interest rate path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gold prices edged higher in Asian trading on Friday, but the precious metal remained on track for a weekly decline as a stronger U.S. dollar and rising Treasury yields offset safe-haven demand driven by escalating tensions in the Middle East. By 01:29 ET (06:29 GMT), spot gold rose 0.8% to $5,119.56 per ounce, while U.S. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":81892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,6827,49,37,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-commodities-news","category-daily-economic-reports","category-economic-reports","category-forex-markets","category-market-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124448,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124447\/revisions\/124448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Middle East conflict supports safe-haven demand<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Strong dollar and yields cap gains<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Oil surge fuels inflation concerns<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Payrolls report in focus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Other metals advance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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