Investing.com - Gold prices gained as the dollar edged lower on Friday after markets priced in Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's Wednesday comments suggesting interest rate hikes may come around the first half of next year.
Gold and the dollar tend to trade inversely with one another.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery traded at $1,335.60 a troy ounce during U.S. trading, up 0.38%, up from a session low of $1,327.80 and off a high of $1,343.00.
The April contract settled down 0.81% at $1,330.50 on Thursday.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,321.10 a troy ounce, Thursday's low, and resistance at $1,393.80, the high from Sept. 8.
The dollar posted strong gains this week after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested at a Wednesday press conference that interest rates could rise six months after the Fed's bond-buying program ends, which is widely seen taking place this fall.
Fed asset purchases, currently set at $55 billion a month, aim to stimulate the economy by suppressing interest rates, weakening the dollar as long as they remain in effect, and Yellen's comments left many expecting benchmark interest rates to begin rising around the first half of 2015.
Profit-taking sent the dollar falling on Friday, while bottom fishing sent gold prices rising, after investors priced in the likelihood that years of ultra-loose monetary policy may be coming to an end in 2015 and looked ahead for fresh market steering currents.
Elsewhere on Friday, Fitch Ratings affirmed U.S. long-term foreign and local currency credit ratings at AAA with a stable outlook, taking the country off negative ratings watch.
Meanwhile, silver for May delivery was down 0.70% at US$20.288 a troy ounce, while copper futures for May delivery were up 0.67% at US$2.948 a pound.