Precious Metals Rebound, XAU Turns Higher

Gold and silver futures bounced back from earlier losses on Friday as the U.S. dollar pared its gains against a basket of foreign currencies.

COMEX gold for August delivery plunged to as low as $1,556.40 per ounce in overnight trading, but climbed back to settle higher by $3.40, or 0.2%, at $1,591.40 per ounce.  For the week, however, the yellow metal posted a decline of 1.9%.

Silver futures – per the July COMEX contract – fell to $27.91 per ounce this morning, but rebounded to end down by just $0.06, or 0.2%, at $28.47 per ounce.  In doing so, silver finished the five-day stretch lower by only 0.1%.

As for gold and silver equities, the sector bounced back alongside precious metals and the broader markets.  The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) initially sunk by 2.0% to 157.89 but steadily recovered over the course of the day.  In afternoon trading, the XAU had climbed 0.8% to 162.49.

Two of the top performing large-cap gold stocks on Friday were IAMGOLD (IAG) and Kinross Gold (KGC) – which rose by 1.4% to $12.15 and by 3.0% to $8.34 per share.

Among silver shares, notable advancers included Hecla Mining (HL) and Silver Standard Resources (SSRI).  HL added 2.1% to $4.60 per share while SSRI 1.5% to $12,59 per share.

Other precious metals underperformed gold and silver, with platinum futures sliding by 1.1% to $1,425.10 per ounce and palladium futures by 2.2% to $612.00 per ounce.