Bullion rally comes to halt on Friday

Prices register weekly gains though

The rally for gold and silver came to a halt on Friday, 20 September 2013 with prices losing more than half of their gains from a day earlier, but still ending higher for the week. Precious metals on Friday gave up roughly half of the gains made this week following the surprise announcement from the Federal Reserve that it will maintain the current pace of its asset-purchasing program.

The December gold dropped $36.80, or 2.7%, to settle at $1,332.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures prices rose 1.8% for the week.

Silver prices on Friday led the percentage losses among the major Comex metals. December silver fell $1.37, or 5.9%, to end at $21.93 an ounce, but saw a weekly gain of 1%.

Friday's drop was a logical reaction to the big jump in gold after the surprise Federal Reserve Open Market Committee decision to stick to the central bank's bond-buying program.

During the week, India, traditionally a big buyer of gold and silver dampened the mood for precious metals after hiking its key interest rate unexpectedly to 7.5%.

Gold imports have been sliding in India since the government has been on a campaign this summer to curb them. The government blames a huge deficit and a weak rupee on the country's insatiable appetite for gold.

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