Precious Metals Firm, Post Weekly Gains

Gold and silver futures held onto the majority of their gains on Friday, fueled by weakness in the U.S. dollar and a broad-based rally in the commodities complex.

COMEX gold futures for August delivery settled higher by $26.70, or 1.7%, at $1,592.00 per ounce.  In doing so, the yellow metal snapped a three-session losing streak and turned higher for the week, by 0.8%.

Silver underperformed gold on Friday, but still managed a larger weekly advance.  COMEX silver futures – per the September contract – finished up by $0.21, or 0.8%, at $27.37 per ounce today and extended their week-to-date gain to 1.7%.

Gold and silver shares were buoyed by strength in precious metals, as the Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) traded up by 1.4% at 149.89 this afternoon.  Notable XAU components in the black included AngloGold Ashanti (AU) and Royal Gold (RGLD) – which climbed by 1.1% to $32.75 and by 1.5% to $74.67 per share, respectively. Nevertheless, the XAU remained sharply lower this week, by 4.8%.

Among other precious metals, platinum futures jumped $22.70, or 1.6%, to $1,435.20 per ounce.  However, platinum still fell 1.0% this week.  Palladium rose $10.85, or 1.9%, to $585.65 per ounce on Friday and extended its weekly advance to 0.9%.

As for cyclical commodities, copper futures added $0.09, or 2.6%, to $3.50 per pound and also posted a weekly gain of 2.6%.  Crude oil rose $1.02, or 1.2%, to $87.10 per barrel and finished the week up by 3.1%.

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