Precious metals end with healthy weekly gains

Prices benefit as alternate investment as stocks slump

Precious metals benefited at Comex on Friday, 04 March 2011 from a flight to safety as stocks encountered renewed selling interest.

Gold hit a record high of $1432.80 per ounce and settled just off of that mark at $1431 per ounce with a 1.0% gain. It was a gain of $12.2. For the week, gold gained 1.4%.



Silver prices set a new 30-year high of $35.41 per ounce on Friday before they closed higher by $1 at $35.22 per ounce with a 2.6% gain. For the week, silver gained 7.4%.

Investors concerns centered around the events in the Middle East and North Africa, the rally in oil and inflation fears.

Also on Friday, investors weighed news that the jobless rate fell to 8.9%, its lowest level since April 2009, and the economy added 192,000 jobs in February. The payrolls growth came in below expectations as market was expecting an addition of 218,000 jobs.