Gold Price News: Gold Ends Flat After New All-Time Highs

Gold prices were little changed on Friday, broadly holding the gains seen in the first three days of the week, albeit with prices setting a fresh all-time high on an intraday basis.

Prices briefly spiked as high as $2,887 an ounce on Friday, a new all-time high, compared with around $2,859 an ounce in late trades on Thursday. However, the rally ran out of steam by mid-afternoon and prices fell back to around $2,859 an ounce later on Friday, little changed on a day-on-day basis.

Support for gold continues due to uncertainties over the economic impacts of US tariffs on foreign imports, while further interest rate cuts are expected this year to also underpin precious metals prices.

Market mulls mixed US data

The markets were digesting a mixed set of economic data from the US on Friday, after the monthly non-farm payrolls came in at 143,000 in January, well below market expectations of 170,000. Meanwhile the unemployment rate for January came in at 4%, slightly better than the market’s expectation of 4.1%. In addition, the Michigan consumer sentiment index for February came in at 67.8, well below the market’s expectation of 71.1.

In addition, a rise in the US dollar’s value against other major currencies on Friday helped to take the edge off gold’s earlier gains.

Technical analysis

On the technical charts, gold’s rally last week took prices up to test rising oblique minor resistance at $2,880 an ounce. As of Friday, the market was trading well above the 20-day moving average at $2,765 an ounce, while the 10-day Relative Strength Index gave a high reading at 77, suggesting an elevated potential for a downward pull-back for prices in the short term, at least on a technical basis.

Upcoming data/events

Monday is looking light on data releases, barring a speech by ECB President Christine Lagarde. Then attention will turn to Tuesday’s speeches by US Fed officials including chair Jerome Powell, as the markets gauge the prospects for monetary policy changes.