Gold futures capped off their 11th consecutive year of gains on a positive note, with the COMEX February 2012 contract settling higher on Friday by $25.90, or 1.7%, at $1,566.80 per ounce.
In doing so, COMEX gold futures – based on the most actively-traded contract - posted an annual advance of 10.0% and outperformed the large majority of asset classes throughout the world in 2011.
Gold futures reached several new all-time highs this year, culminating with a record print of $1,923.70 per ounce on September 6. The yellow metal’s low this year occurred on January 28, when it fell to $1,309.10 per ounce.
Silver futures - per the February 2012 contract – climbed alongside gold on Friday, finishing with a gain of $0.60, or 2.2%, at $27.92 per ounce. Gold’s sister precious metal reached its high this year (and a 31-year high) of $49.82 per ounce on April 25, and a low in 2011 of $26.145 on December 29.
In contrast to gold, however, silver futures fell 9.8% in 2011 alongside most members of the commodities complex.
Platinum and palladium fared considerably worse than silver, posting year-to-date losses of 21.0% and 18.0%, respectively.
Among cyclical commodities, copper tumbled 23.0% and natural gas lost 32.0%. One other winner alongside gold, however, was crude oil – which climbed 8.2% in 2011 to $98.83 per barrel.
Source; http://www.goldalert.com/2011/12/gold-futures-rise-10-0-in-2011-silver-falls-9-8/
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