Gold ends modestly up after two-session losses

Silver also recoups some of previous session’s 6.9% loss

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures ended modestly higher Friday, recouping some of their recent losses as investors spent the day split between a dash for cash and rush for the relative safety of the precious metal but decided on the latter as closing approached. 

Gold seesawed during the session but in the end investors chose to enter the weekend with some of the metal in their portfolios.

Gold for December delivery GC1Z +0.34%  rose $4.90, or 0.3%, to $1,725.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. 

That brought weekly losses to 3.5%, snapping a three-week winning run for the metal. 

Gold was under pressure for mos of the day as many large funds have been selling positions in gold and other commodities, said Frank Lesh, a broker and futures analyst with FuturePath Trading in Chicago. 

The funds looked at gold till the end of the year “and saw much more risk than they saw reward,” Lesh said. 

Support was coming from some safe-haven buying ahead of the weekend, he added. 

The U.S. stock market moved higher as it approached closing time but issues surrounding the euro zone’s sovereign-debt crisis remained. 

“The weekend elections in Spain implies that traders will prefer to short the euro-U.S. dollar instead of being long,” said Chintan Karnani, chief analyst at Insignia Consultants in New Delhi. The day’s “movement in commodities and equity markets also suggest that investors are preferring to sit on cash.” 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.22%  was up 0.4%. The euro, meanwhile, traded at $1.3522, inching up from $1.3458 in North American trading late Thursday.

In order for gold prices to rise, U.S. stock markets will also need to rise, Karnani said. On a technical basis, the failure of Comex gold to break and trade over $1,741 during the session may result in a fall to $1,705 and $1,686, he added. 

Gold appeared unfazed by data showing that the risk of recession has receded. The Conference Board on Friday reported that its index of leading economic indicators grew 0.9% in October, the largest growth since February. 

Other metals traded higher Friday, with silver leading the pack. 

December silver SI1Z +2.93%  added 92 cents, or 2.9%, to end at $32.42 an ounce. 

December copper HG1Z +0.64%  finished at $3.40 a pound, up 2 cents, or 0.6%. 

Source; http://www.marketwatch.com/story/shanghai-hikes-silver-margins-to-fresh-high-2011-11-18