UNITED STATES August 24 2015 6:23 PM     

NEW YORK (Scrap Register): United States gold scrap prices  advanced on Friday in line with gold futures prices at New York Mercantile  Exchange as some investors sought to shield their wealth from turbulence in  global stocks and currency markets.

The major gold scrap commodities on  the Scrap Register Price Index advanced on Friday. The 9ct hallmarked gold scrap  prices rose to $420.677 an ounce and 14ct hallmarked gold scrap prices advanced  to $656.256 an ounce. The 18ct hallmarked gold scrap and 22ct hallmarked gold  scrap prices also gained at $841.354 ounce and $1027.573 an ounce  respectively.

According  to Scrap Register Price Index, the 9ct non-hallmarked gold scrap prices rose to  $397.908 an ounce and 14ct non-hallmarked gold scrap prices up to $620.737 an  ounce on Friday. The 18ct non-hallmarked gold scrap and 22ct non-hallmarked gold  scrap prices are also traded higher at $795.817 an ounce and $971.957 an ounce  respectively.

The most active December gold contract on the COMEX  division of the New York Mercantile Exchange last traded up by $1.80 at  $1,154.70 an ounce on Friday.

Gold futures prices at New York Mercantile  Exchange settled up and hit a six-week high overnight as more bad economic data  from China rattled financial markets, pushing the U.S. dollar broadly lower.  

The FOMC appears sharply divided on whether inflation is moving close to  a level it deems appropriate to start raising short-term rates. World stocks  tumbled towards their worst week of the year, while the dollar index hit its  lowest in two months after Chinese factory data added to doubts that the U.S.  Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month.

Gold had already  rebounded last week from July's 5-1/2 year low, boosted by minutes of the Fed's  last policy meeting, which dented expectations for an imminent rise in U.S.  rates.

Gold has come under heavy pressure this year from expectations  that the Fed would raise rates for the first time in nearly a decade, lifting  the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion while boosting the  dollar.