Gold slipped from a 13-month high touched earlier on Friday as the dollar rebounded from a three-week low, yet the metal was set for a weekly gain.
The precious metal hit a high of $1283.17 an ounce, the highest in 13 months, while currently trading lower around $1264.13.
The yellow metal leaped 1.5 percent on Thursday, the biggest one-day advance in a week, after the European Central Bank announced a batch of policies to prop up growth and inflation.
The ECB surprised markets by cutting interest rates to zero, while announced an expansion in the central bank’s asset purchases program in addition to other measures.
However, ECB President Mario Draghi signaled there would be no further rate cuts, pushing the euro higher to a peak of 1.2160 versus the green currency.
The U.S. dollar, on the other hand, rebounded from a three-week low of 95.93 against a basket of major currencies to hover around 96.70, according to the dollar index.
Investors’ attention will shift to next week’s policy meeting by Federal Reserve, amid expectations policymakers will not hike rates in the near term.
On the weekly basis, gold is headed for its second straight weekly advance on the ECB’s stimulus and as the Fed will probably hold its interest rates.
“SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose to 25.68 million ounces on Thursday, the highest since August 2014,” according to Reuters.
Physical demand from top Asian buyers, China and India, remained weak causing gains to be limited this week.
