NEW YORK, July 16: US gold futures finished a choppy session firmer and above fresh six-week lows on Friday, bolstered by speculative short covering before the weekend, dealers and analysts said.

The market bounced from a fund-led foray below $420 an ounce on Thursday and earlier on Friday after a lack of further selling prompted some investors to return to the market in late trade.

Active August delivery gold climbed $1.10 to settle at $421.30 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s COMEX division, after earlier sinking as low as $418.20, which marked its weakest price since June 2.

My suspicion was that there was some short covering coming in at the end of the day, especially since open interest was up for Thursday, which points to fresh short selling, said Refco analyst Tom Boustead.

Crude also was up a little bit, which helped to get people thinking about squaring positions ahead of the weekend, he added.

Another analyst said the bottom for gold prices in the short term probably would be around Friday’s low, because currencies were range-bound and high oil prices propped up gold as a hedge against inflation.—Reuters