Source: Myra P. Saefong, CBS.MarketWatch.com
New York— After a slow start, gold futures prices made a fresh attempt at a six-year high Friday, closing near $355 an ounce and logging a gain of $3 for the week.
A hefty decline in U.S. payrolls pulled the broader U.S. stock market, as well as the dollar lower, providing support to gold following a run up so far this year that�s taken prices up by about $7.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for February delivery closed at $354.90 an ounce, up $1.20 after an earlier low at $350.50. A week ago, the contract closed at $351.60. It started the year at $348.20. Friday�s high of $356.50 is just short of the March 1997 high of $356.60, according to Haver Analytics.
The U.S. economy shed an unexpected 101,000 jobs in December as retailers hired fewer people for the holidays than in years past and factory positions grew scarcer.
�Employment numbers were opposite of what �experts� had predicted, being the worst in 10 months,� said Erik Gebhard, an analyst at Altavest.com.
�Equities and financials haven�t made heads or tails of the numbers, but the dollar sank over 50 points and provided the catalyst gold bulls were looking for to coax prices to a fresh contract high,� he said.
Overall, the trend for gold is up, Gebhard said. �It would take either an insane or reckless bear to step in front of this bullish freight train.�
In foreign-exchange action, the euro changed hands against the dollar at $1.0556, up 0.6 percent, while the dollar fell 0.1 percent to 119.3 yen. The value of the greenback is vital for traders who must swap out of their local currencies to buy the dollar-denominated precious metal.
�North Korea is another situation that needs to be monitored,� said Charles Nedoss, an analyst at Peak Trading Group. Overnight, the Asian country announced it will pull out of a nuclear non- proliferation treaty aimed at controlling the spread of nuclear technology.
And U.S/Iraq tensions still remain high, �with the U.S. adamant that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, although to quote U.N. chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, they have found �no smoking guns�,� said TheBullionDesk.com analyst James Moore.
For now, North Korea will continue to fuel the situation, even though it claims it has no intention of producing nuclear weapons, he said.
The U.S. stock market traded mostly lower Friday, pressured by the weak jobs report and sending risk-averse investors back to the precious metals.
Metals indexes move higher
Major metals mining indexes also found support from the weak jobs report.
The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index traded at 78.06, up 2 percent, and the CBOE Gold Index rose 1.8 percent to 64.45. The Amex Gold Bugs Index tacked on 1.9 percent to 147.74.
Among metals index components, shares of Harmony Gold added 25 cents to $17.60, Newmont rose 68 cents to $28.64 and Placer Dome climbed by 20 cents to $11.75. Gold Fields Ltd. gained 46 cents to stand at $14.41 and Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold tacked on 54 cents to $17.54.
Stillwater Mining a major platinum and palladium producer, traded at $5.53, down 9 cents.
Silver strengthens
In other Nymex metals action, the March contract for silver closed at $4.873 an ounce, up 1.8 cents.
�Silver remains firm, but genuine buying is still slow from the industrial sector, while physical demand will be deterred by the higher price,� said Moore.
Elsewhere, March palladium closed at $269.30 an ounce, up $5.65. The April contract for palladium�s sister metal, platinum rose by $4.50 to $615.80 an ounce.
March copper closed at 74.45 cents a pound, down 0.6 cent, and February aluminum stood at 64.2 cents a pound, up 0.1 cent.
As for supplies, Nymex gold inventories were at 2.04 million troy ounces late Thursday, unchanged from the previous session. Silver inventories were up 2,995 at 107.95 million troy ounces, while copper stocks fell 248 short tons to 399,058 short tons.
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