London — A stronger dollar combined with a slump in the Chinese currency pushed gold down to the weakest in nearly 17 months on Friday and some analysts expect further downside. Spot gold was unchanged at $1,207.56/oz at 9.41am GMT, after earlier dropping to its lowest since March 15 2017 at $1,204. For the week, it was down about 1.4%. US gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,215.70/oz on Friday. "We have dollar strength, also versus the yuan, and that combination with the trade tension is putting downward pressure on the gold price," said Georgette Boele, commodity strategist at ABN AMRO in Amsterdam. The dollar climbed to a two-week high against a basket of major currencies and scaled a 14-month peak versus the Chinese yuan as concern about an escalation in trade tension between the US and China supported the US currency. "They [speculators] really want to test the $1,200 level, but it should bottom out close to there. I think when people get back from holidays in September, they will pro...
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