By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Friday morning in Asia but was poised to end the best week in seven as falling U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar gave the yellow metal a boost.
Gold futures were up 0.33% at $1,716.90 by 11:50 PM ET (4:50 AM GMT). Prices have risen 1.4% for the week so far, their biggest gains since late January 2021. The dollar, which usually moves inversely to gold, edged up but was near one-week lows.
Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields also dropped further from the more than one-year peak hit during the previous week, after the successful auctioning of ten-year Treasury benchmark and 30-year notes.
On the central bank front, the European Central Bank handed down its policy decision on Thursday and pledged to accelerate money-printing to curb the region's borrowing costs.
Across the Atlantic, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a massive $1.9 trillion stimulus package into law on Thursday, just one day after the House of Representatives gave it final approval. Biden also hopes to accelerate the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and return the country closer to normality by the Jul. 4 holiday.
Thursday’s initial jobless claims report also said that 712,000 claims were filed over the past week, against the 725,000 claims in forecasts prepared by Investing.com and the 754,000 claims recorded during the previous week.
In other precious metals, silver inched up 0.1% and was on track for its best week since late January 2021 with a 3.7% rise. Palladium edged up 0.2% and platinum rose 1.2%, set to post its best week in four with a 7% gain.