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Extending a recent downward trend, the price of gold moved moderately lower over the course of the trading day on Friday.
Gold for April delivery moved steadily lower as the day progressed, closing down $9.70 or 0.5 percent at a new two-month closing low of $1,817.10 an ounce.
The continued weakness came as the U.S. dollar advanced amid concerns about the outlook for interest rates, with the U.S. dollar index climbing by 0.6 percent.
Adding to recent interest rate worries, the Commerce Department released a report showing an unexpected acceleration in the annual rate of growth by core consumer prices in the month of January.
The report said annual growth by core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, accelerated to 4.7 percent in January from an upwardly revised 4.6 percent in December.
Economists had expected the annual rate of growth by core consumer prices to slow to 4.3 percent from the 4.4 percent originally reported for the previous month.
Including food and energy prices, consumer price growth also accelerated to 5.4 percent in January from 5.3 percent in December. The rate of growth was expected to slow to 4.9 percent.
Paul Ashworth, Chief North America Economist at Capital Economics, called the data "another sign that the Fed might have to leave its policy rate higher for longer."
