US gold futures rose on Friday, extending the previous session's reversal from one-week lows, as a softer dollar and firmer oil prices lent support, dealers said. Gold for August delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division closed up $2.80, or 0.4 percent, at $657 an ounce, after dealing between $653.50 and $659.50.
Jeffrey Christian, managing director of commodity research firm CPM Group, said the market was seeing a normal reaction in prices after being down the previous session. "What you have seen in the market over the last few weeks is proprietary traders have come in the morning and tried to push gold below $650, tried to push silver below $13, and when they failed, they reversed their shorts and prices come back up," he said.
On Thursday, gold futures settled with moderate losses after probing one-week lows at around the $650 level amid a stronger dollar and increases in longer-dated US interest rates. The euro climbed nearly 0.5 percent to $1.3458 in early morning trade in New York, rebounding from an early low at $1.3383.
Gold typically moves opposite the dollar as many investors use the metal as an alternative to the currency. US crude oil futures edged higher on Friday, bouncing off earlier lows as markets watched for signs a general strike in Nigeria would begin to affect oil exports.
COMEX estimated final gold volume at 66,965 lots, versus Wednesday's 85,044 lots. On the fundamental front, South Africa's Gold Fields Ltd on Friday said workers had ended a strike that had started on June 6, at its mine in Venezuela. Gold Fields, the world's fourth biggest gold producer, said its employees had returned to work at the Choco 10 mine, but production for the quarter is expected to fall to 5,800 ounces from the previously advised 8,000 ounces.
Spot gold edged up to $653.60/655.10 an ounce by 3:00 pm EDT, from $651.30/652.80 an ounce late Thursday. The morning London afternoon fix was set at $652.85. COMEX July silver was down 7.0 cents to $13.020 an ounce. Spot silver was quoted at $13.04/13.08 an ounce, a shade below the late Thursday quote of $13.08/13.12. London silver was fixed at $13.1550 an ounce.
NYMEX July platinum rose $9.50 to $1,308.50 an ounce. Spot platinum was at $1,296/1,291 an ounce. September palladium settled up $2.60 to $381.95 an ounce. Spot palladium edged up to $373.00/377.00.