Gold slipped on Friday as the U.S. dollar advanced versus the yen and the euro, but the metal was still looking to post a weekly gain, while silver was set for its biggest weekly rise in 13 months.
The greenback was up more than 2% against the yen on speculation the Bank of Japan was considering applying negative rates to its lending programme for financial institutions, effectively starting to pay banks to borrow its cash.
Spot gold was down 1.5% Friday at $1,231.80 U.S. an ounce, after hitting a five-week high of $1,270.10 U.S. an ounce on Thursday.
Spot silver fell 0.4% to $16.93 U.S. an ounce. The metals had risen to a 11-month high of $17.69 U.S. in the previous session and was up more than 6% on the week.
Copper jumped to a four-week high, while steel soared to a 19-month top on Thursday.
Spot palladium was up 0.3% to $602.98 U.S. an ounce and poised for a weekly rise of 7%, after climbing to its highest since November on Thursday.
