LONDON—Spot-gold prices advanced Friday as a rebound in the euro attracted investors back to the precious metal.
Gold has been trending lower for much of the week, hitting a two-week low Thursday, but a breakout in the euro attracted fresh money Friday, traders and analysts said.
Spot gold was recently trading at $1,117.10 a troy ounce, up 0.7% from Thursday's close. Gold for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was at $1,117.60 an ounce.
The euro is trading above $1.37 against the dollar, a figure that was important resistance, said Standard Bank analyst Walter de Wet.
"It has triggered fresh money," Mr. de Wet said, adding gold isn't likely to trade much above $1,130 to $1,140an ounce in the next week due to poor physical demand. In addition, holdings in the largest gold exchange traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares, rose last week but then fell back Wednesday.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's assertion earlier in the week that inflation isn't a problem right now could weigh on gold near-term, said HSBC analyst James Steel. The precious metal could trade below $1,100 an ounce before rising again later in the year, Mr. Steel said.
Meanwhile a rise in inflation in China this week led to concerns the country might tighten monetary policy further. However, for now the markets have "made peace" with the Greek debt situation, said Mr. de Wet, but James Moore of the BullionDesk sees the situation possibly providing ongoing commodity volatility.
"The sheer scale of fiscal deficits will continue to keep traders and investors on edge, as will calls for a clampdown on CDS trading and for speculators not to take advantage of the current situation, and will keep the Euro volatile for some time," Mr. Moore said.
The other precious metals are also up. Spot silver is at $17.30 an ounce, up 0.9%, spot platinum was at $1,621.50 an ounce, up 0.8%, and spot palladium was at $466 an ounce, up 1.9%.
