Gold Has First Winning Week in Three; Outlook Cloudy By Investing.com

Investing.com – Gold clinched a weekly gain on Friday after two weeks in the red.

But two straight negative sessions before the end of the week also clouded the near-term outlook for the yellow metal.

Gold has struggled to put in a meaningful recovery since tumbling to 10-week lows beneath $1,785 an ounce last week. It was one of the few that really didn’t get much of a pop from this week’s cheap-money driven commodities rally that lifted almost everything from to and even .

Coinciding with gold’s drop on the day since Thursday was the rebound in the that appeared to blunt its rival’s advance.

The dollar found some support after having dipped beneath 90.3 on Wednesday. A break below 90 on the index would have likely powered gold into the high $1,800 levels.

“Instead we’re seeing a rebound, with the dollar index above 90.5,” Craig Erlam, analyst at online brokerage OANDA, said referring to Friday’s peak of 90.7.

“A move above 91 would be a psychologically significant move, with it having been the neckline of the inverse head and shoulders and coming after it rotated off key fib levels,” said Erlam, citing possible tests at under $1,800 for gold if that were to occur.

At Friday’s settlement, gold for on Comex was down $3.60, or 0.2%, at $1,823.20.

For the week, it rose about $10, or 0.6%. In two weeks prior, April gold lost a cumulative 2.35%.

Platinum, meanwhile, gained for a second day in a row after a run-up to six-year highs the previous day.

Benchmark for on New York’s Comex settled up $12, or almost 1%, at $1,259 an ounce. On Thursday, it hit a 2015 high of $1,281.10, refocusing traders’ attention on the autocatalyst metal as one that should be watched in the precious metals space.