Precious metals overcome early weakness

Mixed finish for precious metals on a weekly basis

Precious metal prices overcame early weakness and ended higher on Friday, 11 March 2011 at Comex. Prices rose as traders turned their focus to precious metals as tensions continued in Libya and powerful earthquake coupled with Tsunami hit Japan.



Gold for April delivery rose $9.3, or 0.7%, to $1,421.8 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, gold lost 0.5%.

Gold ended the month of February higher by 5.6% following a 6.1% drop in January 2011. For the year of 2010, gold ended higher by 30%, its tenth consecutive yearly gain.

Silver prices for May delivery rose 87 cents (2.5%) to end at $35.94. For the week, silver gained 1.7%. Prices gained more than 20% in February 2011 after shedding 9% this year in January. In FY 2010, silver ended higher by 83.7%.

Japan is a top consumer of commodities just following China.

Among domestic economic data expected for the day on Friday, the preliminary Consumer Sentiment Survey for March from the University of Michigan came in at 68.2, which marked its worst reading in five months and was well short of expectation.

Advance retail sales for February showed a 1% increase, in line with expectations. Excluding autos, retail sales increased by 0.7%, which is narrowly better than the 0.6% increase that had been expected. Retail sales for January were revised upward to reflect a 0.7% increase.

January business inventories showed a 0.9% increase, which is slightly stronger than the 0.8% increase that had been broadly expected.