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Precious metals posted steep losses on Friday as investors viewed the better than expected U.S. jobs data as a potential impediment to a third round of quantitative easing (QE3) by the Federal Reserve.
COMEX gold futures for April delivery snapped a three-session winning streak, as they retreated $19.00, or 1.1%, to $1,740.30 per ounce. However, following the COMEX close gold futures tumbled to as low as $1,727.40 in electronic trading. The yellow metal still managed to finish the week in positive territory, but by just 0.5%.
Silver, which had been outperforming gold by a considerable margin heading into today, fared worse than the yellow metal after the employment report. COMEX silver futures for March delivery finished lower by $0.43, or 1.3%, at $33.75 per ounce. Subsequently in electronic trading, however, silver sunk 1.9% to $33.53 per ounce. For the week, silver posted a fractional loss of 0.1%.
In contrast to gold and silver, other precious metals finished in the black. Platinum futures inched higher by $2.00, or 0.1%, to $1,631.90 per ounce – thereby extending its weekly gain to 0.6%. Palladium rose $1.20, or 0.2%, to $708.85 per ounce – which stretched its ascent over the five-day stretch to 2.7%.
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Among cyclical commodities, copper futures surged 3.2% to $3.90 per pound on Friday and crude oil advanced 1.5% to $97.84 per barrel.
