Yellow metal ends at record high

Gold touches all time high of $1006 an ounce

Precious metal prices ended higher on Friday, 11 September, 2009. Prices rose due to the slipping dollar.

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 $1006.4, higher by $9.6 (1%) an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. During intra day trading, gold went up by 1013.7. For the week, gold ended higher by 1%. Year to date, gold prices are higher by 15%.

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 (2.5%) since then.

On Friday, Comex silver futures for December delivery rose by 3 cents (0.2%) to $16.7 an ounce. For the week, silver ended higher by 2.5%.

Silver ended 7.1% higher for August, 2009. For second quarter, silver rose 4.5%. Year to date, silver has climbed 44.5% this year. For 2008, silver had lost 24%.

In the currency market on Friday, the dollar index, which measures the strength of dollar against a basket of other currencies, fell by 0.2%. The dollar fell against the euro to a fresh one year low.

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