Commodities: Gold ends week on a high thanks to subdued US data and weaker dollar

Gold rose to a six-week high in Friday's trading, aided by an ever weaker US dollar and worse than-expected US inflation, dampening expectations of a raise in interest rates.

Second-quarter US gross domestic product and labour costs were factors in pushing the dollar lower, making gold more attractive to holders of other currencies.

Chinese data on Friday showed consumption of gold in the country rose by 10% in the first half of the year while production fell, leading to higher imports.

Spot gold was up on the day 0.81% at $1,269 by 1700 BST, while silver was up 0.8% at $16.72.

Brent crude closed the week higher with the September contract up 1.93% at $52.54 by 1700 BST.

A weaker dollar has been one factor in this push higher as well as recent intentions from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce output over the coming months.

In addition to this, increasing shale production in the US and falling oil inventories have also proved to be inflationary factors this month.

Copper saw slightly lacklustre trading compared to moves earlier in the week, which saw the base metal hit a two-year high at $6,400, where it ran into heavy resistance and sharply sold off.

Trading during the UK session saw a range of $6,309/$6,350 take hold, ending the day up 0.12% at $6,337 by 1800 BST.

Soybean futures were up on the day 1.01% at $1,019 a bushel, while corn futures were up 0.56% on concerns about dry weather forecasts in key growing areas of the US Midwest.