CHICAGO, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange posted gains of 6.75 percent in the trading week ending March 6, which marked the highest weekly percentage gain since 2011.
The most active gold contract for April delivery jumped 105.7 U.S. dollars weekly, or 6.75 percent, to close at 1,672.4 dollars per ounce on Friday.
As for other precious metals, silver for May delivery added 80.6 cents weekly, or 4.89 percent, to close at 17.263 dollars per ounce. Platinum for April delivery was up 37 dollars, or 4.31 percent, to settle at 896.4 dollars per ounce.
Fear about the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak has driven appetite for assets perceived as havens, including bullion and government debt, analysts noted.
For the week ending March 6, the Dow rose 1.78 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 0.61 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 0.1 percent.
The three major averages are still in correction territory, down at least 10 percent from their recent peaks.
After choppy trade, U.S. stocks ended Friday's session lower with the Dow down 256.5 points, paring some of the earlier losses. The 30-stock average dropped 894.66 points at the lows in the session.
Gold usually moves in opposite directions with the U.S. equities. When the stock markets are on the decline, investors may turn to safe-haven assets.
On top of all that, weakness in the U.S. dollar, which gold is priced in, has been another source of support for bullion. The dollar has declined more than 2 percent this week as measured by the U.S. dollar index. A weaker dollar can raise the appeal of dollar-price assets like gold to buyers using foreign currency.
Gold futures also benefited from a surprise interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve, fighting against a potential economic downturn stemming from the coronavirus outbreak.
The Fed said in an announcement that "in light of these risks and in support of achieving its maximum employment and price stability goals," the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed's policy-setting body, decided to cut its key interest rate by 0.5 percentage point.
Gold prices were weighed on economical data released this week. U.S. employers added 273,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.5 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
U.S. initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, stood at 216,000 in the week ending Feb. 29, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, the Department of Labor reported Thursday.
U.S. non-manufacturing index registered 57.3 percent, up 1.8 percentage points from the January reading of 55.5 percent, said the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). Numbers over 50 percent are viewed as positive for the economy.
The ISM U.S. manufacturing index registered 50.1 percent in February, down 0.8 percentage point from the January reading of 50.9 percent.
Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at New York-based online trading platform OANDA, attributed the decline to "bullish exhaustion" in the wake of the recent rally.
"Gold trading will remain volatile as the world enters crisis mode; as gold's bullish case seems impenetrable, active traders need to be prepared for massive dips on bullish exhaustion," Moya said in a note on Friday.
