Gold Price Eases From 2017 Highs, Up 0.3% For Week

New York (Feb 14)  Gold futures inched lower Friday, trimming weekly gains as traders did some profit taking in most asset classes. April gold was down USD2.50, or 0.2%, to USD1239.10 an ounce.

Still, mixed signals on US interest rates and political murkiness helped gold rise 0.3% this week, at one point touching its highest since November.

Gold futures have been up three consecutive weeks.

The Federal Reserve was in focus this week but gave no concrete indication of whether they will raise interest rates in March.

Analysts say the Fed will wait until May or June, but January's spike in US inflation may compel them to move sooner.

In economic news today, the Conference Board reported a bigger than expected increase by its index of leading US economic indicators in the month of January.

The leading economic index climbed by 0.6% in January after rising by 0.5% in December. Economists had expected the index to increase by 0.4%.

Source: AllianceNews