Gold / Silver / Copper futures - Weekly review: Sept. 30 - Oct. 4

Investing.com - Gold futures edged lower on Friday, as investors continued to monitor political developments in Washington.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery fell 0.6% on Friday to settle the week at USD1,309.90 a troy ounce. The December contract settled 0.25% lower at USD1,317.60 a troy ounce on Thursday.

Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1,278.20 a troy ounce, the low from October 2 and resistance at USD1,344.40, the high from September 27.

On the week, the precious metal lost 2.18%.

Gold prices struggled for upside traction due to a slightly stronger U.S. dollar, as dollar-priced commodities become more expensive to investors holding other currencies when the greenback gains.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, advanced 0.47% to end the week at 80.24.

House Republican leader John Boehner said Friday the House will not vote on a budget bill without conditions and demanded spending cuts in exchange for raising the government's borrowing limit.

Markets were also mulling over how the political deadlock in Washington will impact on negotiations to raise the U.S. debt ceiling, which the U.S. Treasury Department has estimated will be reached by October 17.

Moody's Investors Service warned that a failure to raise the debt limit would result in a worse outcome for financial markets than a government shutdown.

Friday's highly-anticipated non-farm payrolls report for September was postponed due to the U.S. government shutdown, and no new date was given for the release of the data.

In the week ahead, investors will be looking ahead to Wednesday’s minutes of the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy-setting meeting, amid ongoing uncertainty over when the central bank will begin tapering its USD85 billion a month asset purchase program.

The Fed took markets by surprise last month with a decision to keep its stimulus program on track, saying it wanted to see more evidence of a sustained economic recovery before tapering.

The central bank is scheduled to meet October 29-30 to review the economy and assess policy.

The precious metal is on track to post a loss of nearly 23% on the year as traders bet an improving U.S. economy would lead the Fed to unwind its stimulus program by the year's end.

Moves in the gold price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank would end its quantitative easing program sooner-than-expected.

Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for December delivery inched down 0.15% on Friday to settle the week at USD21.75 a troy ounce. Silver prices settled 0.5% lower at USD21.78 on Thursday.

On the week, silver future prices declined 0.35%, the fourth consecutive weekly loss.

Meanwhile, copper for December delivery advanced 1% on Friday to close the week at USD3.301a pound. On Thursday, copper futures tumbled 1.45% to settle at USD3.268 a pound.

Prices of the red metal declined 0.85% on the week, amid concerns a U.S. shutdown will create a drag on fourth quarter economic growth.