Gold futures pulled back Friday from their highest level of the month, but were still poised to score their third straight weekly gain as worry over the financial fate of Cyprus continued to support demand for the metal as an investment haven.
Gold for delivery in April fell $5.40, or 0.3%, to $1,608.40 U.S. an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Tracking the most-active contracts, prices were set to finish the week up about 1%, which would be the third straight weekly gain, according to commodity watchers.
On Thursday, prices added $6.30, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,613.80 U.S., boosted by a drop for U.S. stocks and concerns over the financial crisis in Cyprus.
May silver dropped 46 cents, or 1.6%, to $28.75 U.S. an ounce, set to give back Thursday’s 1.4% gain. Prices were trading about 0.4% lower for the week.
Safe-haven buying took a bit of a breather Friday, at least judging from the currency market. The ICE dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six rival currencies, fell to 82.451, down from 82.833 late Thursday. The greenback weakened as the euro recovered some of the ground it lost this week.
Cyprus’s lawmakers need to make "big decisions" Friday in order to prevent a financial disaster, the government said as parliament prepared to debate a range of crisis proposals.
The country’s parliament on Tuesday refused to pass legislation to support a bank-deposit tax. That provoked a threat from the European Central Bank, which said it would cut off emergency lending to banks in Cyprus with effect from Monday night.
Copper prices were a standout Friday, gaining the most among Comex metals after U.S. data Thursday showed growth in the manufacturing sector.
Copper for delivery in May rose four cents, or 1.2%, to $3.48 U.S. a pound, down 1.3% from a week ago. Prices have lost more than 5% year to date, and analysts pointed out the recent breakdown in the metal’s correlation with equities.
Around the wider metals complex, June palladium shed $1.80 to trade at $755.05 U.S. an ounce, trading about 2.7% lower for the week, while April platinum inched up $1.90, or 0.1%, to $1,582 U.S. an ounce, set for a loss of around 0.7% on the week.
