Gold Edges Up on Safe Haven Buying (Update 1)

Updated from 10:08 a.m. EDT with settlement prices

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Gold prices edged up Friday as rising Spanish bond yields brought back worries about the eurozone's stability.

Gold for August delivery settled up $2.40 to $1582.80 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gold price traded as high as $1586.30 and as low as $1572.60 an ounce, while the spot price was rising $3.60, according to Kitco's gold index.

"I think the fundamentals are basically being pushed off, people are waiting to see what those fundamentals will be: Will central banks be buying more, will central governments be printing more, will the global be weaker or stronger and how will that affect gold?" said Yoni Jacobs, chief investment strategist at Chart Prophet.

Silver prices for September delivery settled up about 86 cents to $27.30 an ounce, while the U.S. dollar index was rising 0.72% to $83.50.

A weakening euro and strengthening oil prices have contributed to the trading range gold has been held in of late, according to Stanley Dash, vice president of applied technical analysis at TradeStation Securities.

"Technicals have been pretty good, we're holding a lot of those numbers ... generally, but that's because we're range-bound," said Dash. "I think you have to be careful, you don't want to overcommit, because we are range-bound."

Investors also showed some timidity as a Chinese curb on real estate speculation suggested the country would continue to tighten, not ease, monetary policy, according to George Gero, precious metals strategist at RBC Wealth Management. Gero also noted that the Spanish bank bailout seems to have quelled worries that gold would be sold to raise dollars.

Dash said the high- and low-end support levels have been about $1,597 and $1,552, respectively. Jacobs said a major event would have to occur for gold to break out of this general range, but when it does he said gold is likely to burst through one of those levels in a dramatic way.

Gold mining stocks were mixed on Friday. Randgold Resources (GOLD) was down 1.7%, while Yamana Gold (AUY) was climbing 1.6%.

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