Gold shook off an early bout of profit taking to trade higher in New York on Friday, as markets settled on the view that July’s soft inflation data has weakened the case for a September Federal Reserve rate hike.

Gold for December delivery, the most active contract on the Comex, rose 0.3% to $4,435.00 an ounce, recovering from an early slide to $4,365.50 and touching $4,454.60 at its intraday best. Sellers had moved in after a rally that this week carried the metal back above the $4,500 level in New York and, on Thursday, to a 10-week high.

In the spot market, gold slid as low as $4,332 an ounce before steadying to $4,353.27, up 0.1%, by early afternoon in London, leaving bullion little changed for the week.

September silver, the most active contract, added 0.2% to $65.13 an ounce, while spot silver rose 0.4% to $64.75, trimming its 2026 decline to around 8%.

Consumer prices barely rose in July, a sign the energy shock from the Iran war is fading, and producer prices were flat. Money markets now put the odds of a September hike at roughly one in three, down from more than 40% a week earlier. Before the Fed meets, traders will parse fresh employment data and chairman Kevin Warsh’s remarks at the Jackson Hole symposium later this month.

“Gold is barely holding onto a weekly advance, as markets indulge in some profit-taking following bullion’s mid-week spike to a two-month high,” Han Tan, chief market analyst at Bybit, told Reuters.

“There is some episodic and more speculative capital that’s maybe taking a bit of profit in gold, because there’s not a near-term catalyst quite so potent immediately in front of us,” Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive, told the same agency.

BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions, said in its weekly commodities strategy note the precious metals complex has gained more than 10% month to date, and that with the Fed likely to sit on its hands for the rest of 2026 and the dollar index anchored in the 98-102 range, “the bulk of the previous correction is now well behind us.” The research house expects gold to average $4,400 an ounce for the full year.

Caracas comes calling

Venezuela’s government and its opposition have jointly asked the Bank of England to release 31 tonnes of gold, worth more than $4 billion at current prices, to fund rebuilding after the June earthquakes that killed more than 6,000 people, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

The bullion has been frozen in the Bank’s vaults since 2018, when Britain stopped recognizing the government in Caracas, a standoff that produced a lengthy High Court battle over who controls the metal. The Bank declined to comment, and is expected to want legal clarity on who has authority over the reserves. It is also likely to seek assurances that proceeds go to helping Venezuelans rebuild rather than enriching the political elite, given the gold belongs to the nation and not its leadership.

Precious metals equities have far outrun the metals this month. Through Friday morning in New York, over ten trading sessions, Hecla Mining had gained 32%, Eldorado Gold 31%, Equinox Gold 30%, Coeur Mining 28%, Agnico Eagle 27% and Newmont 26%, against an 8% rise for gold itself and 12% for silver.

(With files from Bloomberg and Reuters)