Daily Gold Update

Source: Marketwatch

San Francisco— Gold futures settled at a record Friday, jumping more than $25 by the close while silver climbed over 2% as weakness in the U.S. dollar and concerns about inflation helped lure investors to precious metals. �The planet will continue to diversify its sovereign debt holdings into materials and stocks regardless of inflation,� said Richard Hastings, a macro strategist at Global Hunter Securities, adding that gold could approach $1,750 over the next two months. Gold for June delivery climbed $25.20, or 1.7%, to settle at $1,556.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the biggest one-day dollar gain for gold futures since Nov. 4, 2010, according to FactSet Research.

Prices ended the week 3.5% higher and finished out the month with an 8.1% gain. The dollar index, which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of six major currencies, stood at 72.943, down from 73.111 in late U.S. trade Thursday. It fell as low as 72.834 on Thursday, its lowest level since July 2008. Fears of inflation following the Federal Reserve�s decision Wednesday to continue to keep its key interest rate at an historic low range also fed gold�s rally. See full story.