Daily Gold Update

Source: Marketwatch

New York— Gold rose 1.2% Friday as investors found a renewed appetite for the metal after it traded below $1,200 an ounce for three straight sessions. Gold for August delivery gained $13.70, or 1.2%, to settle at $1,209.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, building on narrower gains earlier in the session. Friday advance made it possible for gold to eke out gains of 0.2% for the week, a welcome change from last week's rout in which prices lost nearly 4%. Gold has lost 3.8% from its June 18 nominal record of $1,258.30 an ounce. Silver tracked gold, with the metal for September delivery adding 20 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $18.07 an ounce. Silver gained 5.6% on the week, its biggest five-day period since early April.

The lower prices in recent sessions have attracted buyers interested in parking their money in a safe-haven investment ahead of the weekend, said Darin Newsom, analyst with DTN Telvent in Omaha. Physical demand for bullion has also provided support, as the weaker prices have sparked interest from jewelry buyers in Asia. Despite the recent pullbacks, analysts are far from having cooled on gold. "The trend is still upward," said Dennis Gartman, an economist and editor of the Gartman Letter in Suffolk, Va. News this week that central banks around the world had sold their gold to the Bank for International Settlements in a swap transaction, mostly viewed as negative, was anything but, Gartman said. See full story.