Gold News & Info

Source: MarketWatch.com

New York— Traders cautiously adjusted positions ahead of the holiday weekend. The New York Mercantile Exchange will be closed Monday in observance of Presidents' Day.

Gains in the dollar against the other major currencies, sparked by the jump in wholesale-level inflation for January, quickly evaporated, providing little direction for metals traders. See Currencies.

Gold for April delivery added 60 cents to end at $429 an ounce. For the week, the benchmark contract added 1.6 percent.

However, March silver reversed course, slipping 2.7 cents to a close at $7.39 an ounce. Silver's weekly gain amounted to 2.6 percent.

March copper and March palladium both closed flat, ending at $1.4920 a pound and $182.70 an ounce, respectively. For the week, copper rose 4.9 percent, while palladium slipped 1.1 percent.

April platinum moved $2.30 higher to close at $865.50 an ounce but ended the week lower by 0.7 percent.

Metals inventories as tracked by Nymex showed silver at 101.24 million troy ounces as of the close of business Thursday compared to the previous day, down 806,116 troy ounces. Copper rose to 46,716 short tons, up 189 short tons from Wednesday, while gold was unchanged at 5.92 million troy ounces.

Meanwhile, mining stocks took a pause.

The Philadelphia Gold/Silver Index slipped 0.2 percent to stand lately at 96.30 points, while the CBOE Gold Index was off 0.3 percent at 85.40 and the Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI: news, chart, profile) eased 0.3 percent to 210.30.

On a related note, changes have been announced in the composition of the Philadelphia Gold/Silver Index. Effective before the open of business on Feb. 22, two stocks will be added to the sector benchmark and a third deleted from it, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange said.

Going into the index will be Glamis Gold Ltd. and Pan American Silver Corp., while DRDGold, the South African company formerly known as Durban Roodepoort Deep, will be coming out.

Updating the index reflects "leadership changes" in the gold and silver industry, the PSE said.

Shares of Glamis Gold fell 10 cents to trade at $17.33, while Pan American Silver rose 13 cents to $16.64. DRDGold's shares lost 6 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $1.47.