08:53 AM EDT, 07/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Gold traded higher early on Friday as the dollar and treasury yields weakened.

Gold for August delivery was last seen up US$17.80 to US$3,363.10 per ounce.

The price of the precious metal has traded in a tight range for most of July after touching a record high on June 13 as the outlook for further interest-rate cuts from U.S. Federal Reserve weakens as it waits to assess the impact of tariffs on inflation and employment.

"With our rates strategists pushing their call for the first cut from the Fed till December, and amidst outside pressure on Powell, we see both the macro drivers and geopolitical/political uncertainty supporting gold," Christopher Louney, a commodities strategist at RBC Capital Markets, noted.

The dollar weakened early, with the ICE dollar index last seen down 0.48 points to 98.25. Treasury yields also fell, with the U.S. two-year note last seen paying 3.88%, down 3.3 basis points, while the yield on the 10-year note was down 2.6 points to 4.431%