Precious Metals Pare Weekly Losses, XAU Rebounds

Gold and silver prices inched higher on Friday despite considerable U.S. dollar strength and weakness in cyclical commodities.

COMEX gold futures, per the August contract, settled with a gain of $2.40, or 0.2%, at $1,582.80 per ounce.  In doing so, the yellow metal cut its weekly loss to 0.6%.

Analysts at Commerzbank wrote in a note to clients today that “Although the price of gold was likewise able to gain during the course of trading yesterday, the increase was disproportionately low. Continued (exchange-traded funds) outflows are evidence that gold is currently in lower demand.”

Silver futures for September delivery on the COMEX closed up by $0.08, or 0.3%, at $27.30 per ounce.  Silver fared slightly better than gold this week, with a 0.3% decline.

Gold and silver shares fell alongside the broader equity markets this morning, but rebounded in afternoon trading.  The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) initially dropped as much as 1.1% to 146.40, but bounced back to near unchanged at 148.01 later in the day.  For the week, however, the XAU remained down by 1.5%.

Notable XAU components in positive territory this afternoon included AngloGold Ashanti (AU), Harmony Gold (HMY), and Silver Wheaton (SLW).  AU advanced by 2.7% to $31.85, HMY by 1.2% to $9.10, and SLW by 1.1% to $26.59 per share.

Other precious metals fared worse, however, as platinum futures finished down by 0.6% at $1,414.50 per ounce while palladium slid 1.5% to $576.10 per ounce.  For the week, platinum and palladium posted losses of 1.4% and 1.6%, respectively.

Among cyclical commodities, copper futures retreated 2.5% to $3.45 per pound on Friday and extended their weekly loss to 1.4%.  Crude oil – which had been on a seven-session win streak, fell 1.3% to $91.44 per barrel, thereby reducing its weekly gain to 4.9%.