Gold News & Info

Source: CBS.Marketwatch

Washington— Hard-hit metals futures opened broadly higher Friday, rallying in the face of a mixed batch of U.S. economic data.

Reclaiming much of losses that the benchmark contract sustained over the previous two sessions, gold for June delivery added $4.60 to trade at $437 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Weakness in the dollar, particularly against the Japanese yen, provided gold's momentum.

Reports on consumer spending, personal income and consumer sentiment yielded mixed readings on the state of the nation's economy. The inflation-sensitive report on employment costs for the first quarter garnered the most attention among metals traders.

Also on Nymex, May silver won back 2.3 cents to trade at $6.93 an ounce, on the heels of Thursday's retreat of 22.8 cents.

May copper rose 2.3 cents to $1.4775 a pound.

July platinum bounced back to $870.50 an ounce, up $5.50.

June palladium climbed by $198.90 an ounce, up $2.90.

According to the latest inventories data compiled by Nymex, silver totaled 104 million troy ounces as of the close of business Thursday, up 484,961 troy ounces from the previous day. Gold fell below 6.04 million troy ounces, down 10,011 troy ounces, while copper totaled 30,551 short tons, down another 237 short tons.

Indexes tracking the mining sector rebounded as well.

The Philadelphia Gold/Silver Index stood lately at 83.13 points, up 1.2%, while the CBOE Gold Index reclaimed the 72.79 level, up 1.1% and the Amex Gold Bugs Index rose 1.5% to 178.75.