Gold on the move as dollar dives, crosses key chart milestone

Gold prices jumped Friday, boosted by increasing weakness in the dollar.

Futures for August delivery climbed 0.44 percent to $1,251 per ounce. The gains lifted the precious metal above its 50-day moving average — a key technical indicator — for the first time since June 15 on an intraday basis. The metal was also on track for its biggest weekly gain since May.

Gold futures since late April with 50-day, 200-day moving average

Source: FactSet

“Gold is range bound between $1,200 and $1,300 and right now we’re in the middle of that range,” said Michael Shaoul, chairman and CEO of Marketfield Asset Management. “I think gold can get to $1,300 and run out of gas, but if it breaks above, then things get interesting.”

Gold miner stocks followed the metal higher, with the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners exchange-traded fund (GDX) advancing 0.2 percent.

The dollar fell 0.21 percent Friday against a basket of major currencies, building on its sharp losses from Thursday. It’s now down more than 10 percent vs the euro for 2017.

The U.S. currency sold off after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the central bank will discuss monetary policy tightening in September.

He did not set a set a time frame for the tightening of the bank’s ultra-loose monetarypolicy, but said the central bank saw signs of “unquestionable improvement” in euro zone growth.