Mixed finish for bullions

Gold settles at its lowest since mid-July

Bullion prices ended mixed on Friday, 03 March 2013. Gold futures settled at their lowest since mid-July on Friday, down a third session in a row as dollar strength on the back of downbeat European data and a climb in U.S. equities drew investors away from the precious metal. Silver ended moderately higher.

Gold for delivery in April fell $5.80, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,572.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. May silver bucked the overall trend in metals, closing up 6 cents, or 0.2%, at $28.49 an ounce. It's higher than last Friday's March contract close of $28.46.

The government-sponsored version of China's manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index dipped to 50.1 in February, down from January's 50.4-point level, and below expectations for a reading of 50.5.

Economic data released on Friday was plentiful. For the U.S., Markit's manufacturing purchasing-managers index showed a final reading of 54.3, in February, down from 55.8 in January. But the ISM manufacturing index accelerated in February, climbing to a better than expected 54.2% from 53.1% in January.

Personal income fell 3.6% in January after increasing 2.6% in December. The consensus expected income to fall 2.4%. The expiration of the payroll tax cut and the giveback following the December boost to asset receipts were expected to lower income levels in January. Those two components accounted for 3.5 percentage points of the January pullback. More concerning was that the remainder of the decline in income was the result of a 0.4% drop in employee compensation.

The final reading of the February University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index improved to 77.6 from a preliminary reading of 76.3.

Construction spending took a sizable hit in January as spending fell 2.1% after increasing an upwardly revised 1.1% (from 0.9%) in December. The consensus expected construction spending to increase 0.5%. Both private (-2.6%) and public (-1.0%) spending contracted in February.

Manufacturing activity strengthened in February as the ISM Manufacturing Index increased from 53.1 in January to 54.2. That is the strongest reading since June 2011.

The dollar index, which weighs the strength of the copper against a basket of six other currencies rose by 0.4% on Friday.

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