Gold settles higher, posts weekly gains

Gold bars

Gold prices rose on Friday, ending near record levels and posting weekly gains, shrugging off a stronger dollar and warnings from a Federal Reserve official about distortions in inflation data.

Gold futures for February 2026 delivery climbed 0.5%, or $22.80, to $4,387.30 per ounce, approaching the record high of $4,394.60 hit in mid-October, and posting weekly gains of around 1.3%.

Silver futures for March 2026 delivery surged 3.20% to $67.335 per ounce at 11:06 pm Makkah time, after touching a record high of $67.68 earlier in the session.

The US dollar index—which measures the greenback’s performance against a basket of six major currencies—rose 0.20% to 98.62 points, a move that typically weighs on dollar-denominated commodities.

In a note on Thursday, Goldman Sachs said gold prices are expected to rise 14% to around $4,900 per ounce by December 2026, driven by the potential expansion of investment diversification to include retail investors.

Meanwhile, New York Fed President John Williams said that “technical factors” may have distorted November inflation data, pushing the headline index below its natural level.

The Consumer Price Index rose at an annual rate of 2.7% last month, compared with expectations of 3.1%, according to a report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.