U.S. gold rebounded Friday, although prices fell short of the record high reached on Wednesday. Silver was on fire, jumping $1 on the day and closing above $35 an ounce for the first time since 1980.
Violence in Libya coupled with rising protests in other North African and Middle Eastern countries were pegged for gains in safe havens like gold and silver.
April gold prices rose $12.20, or 0.9 percent, to close at $1,428.60 an ounce on the Comex in New York.
"There are still a lot of moving parts in the Middle East and North Africa," said Adam Klopfenstein, a senior strategist at Lind-Waldock in Chicago, according to Bloomberg. "People want to be long gold and silver going into a weekend where’s there’s a lot of macro risk in the market."
Gold was traded as low as $1,413.80 and as high as $1,432.80. Gold prices rallied 1.4 percent this week and they are up 0.5 percent for the year.
"Gold and silver’s rally into the end of the week and continued unrest in North Africa and the Middle East is expected to give precious metals a firm start for next week’s trading," noted Debbie Carlson of Kitco News. "The situation in Libya remains unsettled and so market analysts said precious metals prices will continue to add some risk premium even as gold and silver trade to new highs."
Silver prices for May delivery surged 2.9 percent to settle at $35.327 an ounce. Silver ranged between $34.205 and $35.365.
"Ultimately, the reasons why silver is going up are related to gold," Bill O’Neill, partner of LOGIC Advisors, said and was quoted on Reuters. "Make no mistake, if gold reverses direction and starts to go to a bear market, silver will follow with a vengeance."
Silver soared 7.4 percent this week. The metal is up 14.2 percent in 2011.
Platinum prices for April delivery rose $4.90, or 0.3 percent, to $1,837.90 an ounce. Prices ranged between $1,827.80 and $1,846.70. Platinum advanced 1.9 percent this week and it is 3.4 percent higher for the year.
Palladium was the only precious metal to decline in New York on Friday. Palladium prices for June delivery lost $5.00, or 0.6 percent, to close at $809.80 an ounce. It hit an intraday low of $800.00 and a high of $822.80. Palladium rallied 3.1 percent this week, however. It is up by 0.8 percent in 2011.
Earlier London PM fixing prices were mostly lower Friday as compared to the previous PM fix. Gold was the exception with its fix of $1,427.00 an ounce, marking a gain of $5.50. Silver retreated 10 cents at $34.430 an ounce. Platinum and palladium fell the furthest. Platinum was fixed $13 lower to $1,828 an ounce and palladium was set back $6 to $811 an ounce.
All London precious metals registered gains on the week. Increases were 1.7 percent for gold, 5.8 percent for silver, 2.1 percent for platinum and 3.3 percent for palladium.
US bullion coins have been relatively quiet this week, based on United States Mint published figures. The last time American Silver Eagles advanced was on Monday. They rose by a sound 575,000 for the day, which turned into their weekly increase as well. One-ounce American Gold Eagles advanced 6,000 on Wednesday and 5,000 on Monday, giving them a weekly pick-up of 11,000. For a recap on how United States Mint bullion coins did during the month of February, read:
- Gold Eagle Bullion Coin Sales Fourth Best – CoinNews.net
- Silver Eagle Bullion Sales Break Record – SilverCoinsToday.com
The latest United States Mint bullion sales figures follow.
| U.S. Mint 2011 Bullion Coin Sales | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prior Weekly Gains | Weekly Gains | March | 2011 Totals | |
| American Eagle Gold Coin (1 oz) | 9,000 | 11,000 | 6,000 | 209,000 |
| American Eagle Gold Coin (1/2 oz) | 7,000 | 0 | 0 | 13,000 |
| American Eagle Gold Coin (1/4 oz) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18,000 |
| American Eagle Gold Coin (1/10 oz) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 120,000 |
| American Eagle Silver (1 oz) | 842,500 | 575,000 | 0 | 9,662,000 |
There is nothing saying silver has to go instep with gold. Silver is highly shorted compared to gold. There are different aspects in silver that gold does not. The biggest example being silver is both an industrial metal and precious metal (meaning silver is used up and consumed) unlike gold where every oz that is mined is stored. Thus silver is used up and gold is not. Thus supply and demand are much greater indicators for the price in silver and not its big brother gold.
silverpott.blogspot.com
that is true.I suppose in industry, it is cheaper to use silver than gold. Traditionally gold has been used in jewlery more than silver because it looked nicer showed monitary superiority.Silver always more rugged appearances earthly whatever.I always purchased silver because I liked the look.Investment wise,because it was cheaper.It will continue to rise in price no doubt.