Gold futures declined on Friday, giving up earlier gains, but holding onto a climb for the week. Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management, attributed the day’s pullback in prices partly to profit-taking ahead of the long weekend, with regular trading closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. However, a decline in the U.S. dollar for the week and gold’s long-term role as an inflation hedge are among the reasons behind the precious metal’s rise this week, he said. February gold fell $4.90, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,816.50 an ounce. Prices based on the most-active contract rose 1.1% from last Friday’s settlement to mark their fifth weekly rise in six weeks, FactSet data show.
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