Precious Metals Firm, XAU Posts 7.1% Weekly Gain

Gold and silver futures held firm on Friday as financial markets digested the Federal Reserve’s decision this week to launch an open-ended third round of quantitative easing (QE3) and extended its near-zero interest rate pledge to 2015.

COMEX gold for December delivery settled up by $0.60 at $1,772.70 per ounce, its highest closing level since late February of this year. Silver futures fared slightly worse than the yellow metal, as the COMEX December contract inched down on Friday by $0.12 to $34.66 per ounce.  Nonetheless, silver remained near its best level since March.

While precious metals were mixed on Friday, gold and silver stocks continued to outperform.  The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) climbed 2.9% to 191.97, its highest closing print since March 2nd.  Furthermore, the XAU extended its weekly gain to 7.1%, its best such stretch since January 23-27 of this year.

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Notable gold miners in the black today included Agnico-Eagle Mines and Eldorado Gold (EGO) – which rose by 2.4% to $51.37 and by 4.2% to $15.75 per share.  Coeur d’Alene Mines (CDE) and Pan American Silver (PAAS), two widely-traded silver producers, advanced by 6.4% to $28.52 and by 4.8% to $20.56 per share.