Gold, Silver Shares Post Weekly Gains, Metals Dip

Gold and silver shares inched lower on Friday amid a slight bit of weakness in precious metals.  The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) fell 0.4% to 160.01 as the sector was unable to maintain its gains from this morning.

Nevertheless, despite today’s decline, the XAU posted a weekly gain of 1.0% and extended its advance thus far in August to 6.0%.

Notable XAU components moving higher this week included Barrick Gold (ABX), Eldorado Gold (EGO), and Pan American Silver (PAAS).  ABX climbed by 4.0% to $35.98, EGO by 3.3% to $11.82 , and PAAS by 3.4% to $16.33 per share.

Moreover, gold and silver equities have considerably outperformed precious metals of late – thereby providing investors with a welcome respite heading into the sector’s seasonally-strong month of September.

COMEX gold futures, per the December contract, settled up by $0.20 at $1,619.40 per ounce on Friday, but posted a weekly loss of 0.2%.  Silver futures for September delivery on the COMEX finished down by $0.21, or 0.7%, at $28.00 per ounce.  In doing so, silver turned negative for the week, also by 0.2%.

On a month-to-date basis, gold and silver futures remained up by just 0.5% and 0.3%, respectively.