Gold Headed For Significant Weekly Loss On Inflation Concerns

(RTTNews) - Gold prices edged up toward $4,000 an ounce on Friday but headed for a significant weekly loss on oil-led inflation worries.

Spot gold rose half a percent to $3,998.01 per ounce after the previous session's sharp sell-off.

Despite today's recovery, the precious metal was on track for a 3 percent weekly loss amid concerns that rising energy prices could reignite inflation and complicate the Federal Reserve's policy outlook. U.S. gold futures were up 0.2 percent at $4,000.10 an ounce.

The dollar gained and oil prices were on track for a weekly gain of more than 10 percent as both the U.S. and Iran intensified military confrontation over control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran launched strikes against several countries across the Gulf and wider region after the U.S. launched a wave of strikes against Iran for the sixth night in a row.

State media reported that the U.S. had hit civilian infrastructure, including bridges, a train station and an airport.

An oil tanker near the country's main export terminal was hit for the first time since reimposing a blockade on Iranian ports.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) reportedly hit targets in Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain amid an expanding regional confrontation.

They also claimed to have attacked a U.S. special operations command center in Syria. Tehran has reportedly asked Yemen's Houthi rebels to be ready to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a critical route for Saudi Arabia's oil exports through the Red Sea, if the United States attacks Iranian power infrastructure.

The weapons have been positioned in Yemen's highlands overlooking Hodeidah and the Gulf of Aden, and the Houthis is waiting for orders to begin operations, it was said.

As inflation worries mount, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan on Thursday called for "modestly" higher interest rates to balance the Fed's dual mandate.

Arguing that inflation remains far above the Fed's 2 percent target, she warned that without policy action, inflation could become more entrenched, requiring more severe rate hikes later.

U.S.-China tensions also remained on investors' radar after U.S. President Donald Trump accused Beijing of exploiting U.S. election data in an extraordinary primetime speech in Washington.