(Updates prices.)
Gold edged higher midafternoon Friday but remained rangebound, even as the dollar and treasury yields rose while traders turn to bonds and also while the Iran War pushes up oil prices and boosts inflation and threatens higher interest rates.
Gold for June delivery was last seen up US$12.80 to US$4,642.40 per ounce.
The precious metal has traded within a narrow range over the past month as the Iran war remains deadlocked. Against this backdrop, U.S. data on Thursday showed the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure rose by 3.5% annualized in March, up from a 2.8% pace in February.
While the Fed's policy committee declined to raise interest rates at the Wednesday end to its two-day policy meeting, it issued a hawkish outlook, with rates likely to rise to combat higher prices, keeping gold, which offers no interest, in check.
"Gold ended April little changed despite a late oil-driven wobble sparked by inflation and rate-hike concerns," Saxo Bank noted.
The dollar rose, with the ICE dollar index last seen up 0.07 points to 98.13. Treasury yields rose, with the yield on the U.S. two-year note last seen up 1.5 basis points to 3.888%, while the 10-year note last seen paying 4.38%, up 0.5 points.