NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Gold futures rose for a third consecutive session on Friday following upbeat economic data from China.

Gold for December delivery GCZ3 +0.09% rose $2.30 to end at $1,312.20 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, the contract rose $1.70 from last Friday’s closing level of $1,310.50.

There was more encouraging data from China on Friday, with industrial output rising 9.7% in July from a year ago, exceeding expectations.

Gold on Thursday rallied $24.60, or 1.9%, after China reported a surge in imports and exports in July. Chinese data is important, because the nation is a major consumer of commodities including metals.

“Both gold and silver broke their short-term downtrends, which we interpret as a sign of growing investor interest,” Commerzbank analysts said, referring to Thursday’s gains. “It would help the prices to bottom out if both metals could stay above the psychologically important thresholds of $1,300 and $20 per troy ounce respectively as the week closes.”

On Friday, September silver SIU3 +1.05%  gained 22 cents to end at $20.41 an ounce and October platinum PLV3 +0.52%  rose $9 to end at $1,500.60 an ounce.