Precious metals end lower

Gold and silver manage to register good weekly gains though

Precious metal prices ended lower on Friday, 04 September, 2009. Prices fell following Labor Department's job report. Nevertheless, precious metals managed to register healthy gains for the week.

Generally, a stronger dollar pressures demand for dollar-denominated commodities, such as crude oil and gold, which become more expensive for holders of other currencies and also vice versa.

On Friday, gold for December delivery ended at $996.7, lower by $1 (0.1%) an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, gold ended higher by 4%. Year to date, gold prices are higher by 13.5%.

Gold ended August, 2009 higher by 0.2%. Before this, for the second quarter, gold ended higher by 0.5%. The metal had gained 4.3% in the first quarter of this year.

On 17 March, 2008 prices had skyrocketed to a high of $1,034/ounce. But prices have dropped somewhat (3%) since then.

On Friday, Comex silver futures for September delivery fell by 4 cents (0.04%) to $16.285 an ounce. For the week, silver ended higher by 9.9%.

Silver ended 7.1% higher for August, 2009. For second quarter, silver rose 4.5%. Year to date, silver has climbed 41.55% this year. For 2008, silver had lost 24%.

Among economic reports expected on Friday, The Labor Department reported on Friday, 04 September, 2009 that U.S. unemployment rate jumped to a 26-year high of 9.7% in August as nonfarm payrolls fell by 216,000, the 20th consecutive monthly decline. The report showed that U.S. payrolls have dropped by 6.9 million to a total of 131.2 million since the recession began in December 2007. Unemployment has increased by 7.4 million during the recession to stand at 14.9 million.

In 2008, gold prices ended higher by 5.5%. The dollar index had gained 12% that year.