Gold jumped Friday and silver on a heady mixture of inflation worries in the US (which were groundless), higher oil prices and more worries in Europe about Greece and Ireland after the latter’s sovereign debt rating was cut by Moody’s.
The upshot was the fifth consecutive weekly gain for the two metals.
Silver rose to its highest in 31 years on speculative buying and tight supplies, and as US consumer prices rose in March (but the core reading eased) and investors bought gold and sliver, but not other precious metals.
In fact other popular trading metals traded lower Friday, with copper, platinum and palladium logging losses for the week.
Spot gold rose 0.9% to $US1,485.70 an ounce, having hit a record $US1,487.90.
Comex June gold futures rose $US13.60 at a record $US1,486, beating the previous record close of $US1,474.10 an ounce a week ago.
And in electronic trading on Globex shortly after the close of regular trading, June gold tacked on another $US3 to $US1,489 an ounce.
And for all the record setting, gold rose just 0.8% for the week.
Silver added 1.4% on Friday to $US42.68 an ounce, notching its third straight weekly gain.
Silver added 4.8% for the week after closing last Friday at $US40.61.
The gold-to-silver ratio — showing the relative strength between the two metals — fell to its lowest since the early 1980s.
Silver prices have risen almost 38% so far this year as investors use it to get more leverage than they can get in higher-priced gold.
Comex May copper fell 3c, or 0.6%, to close at $US4.258 a pound.
That was down 5.4% below last Friday’s close of $US4.50.
June Palladium futures lost $US6.15, or 0.8%, to end $US768.10 an ounce, down 3.3% on the week.
July platinum also fell off 80 cents to finish at $US1,792.50 an ounce. That was a loss of 1.1% for the week.
Crude-oil futures rose more than 1% Friday, but it ended down for the week.
In New York WTI crude for May delivery added $US1.55, or 1.4%, to settle at $US109.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On the week, however, oil lost 2.8%.
That was despite manufacturing in New York State rising to the highest level in a year in April, and industrial production solidly in March as well.
In London, ICE Brent crude for June, the new front-month contract, rose $US1.45 to settle at $US123.45 a barrel.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan survey of US consumer sentiment hit 69.6 in a preliminary April reading, up from 67.5 for March.
