Precious metals end 0.5% higher

Gold registers its third weekly gain in a row

Bullion prices ended moderately higher at Comex on Friday, 21 February 2014. Gold futures closed higher on Friday, with violence in Ukraine fueling some haven support as traders looked to speeches from Federal Reserve officials for clues on the central bank's monetary policy plans and to the weekend meeting of the Group of 20 nations.

Gold futures for April delivery rose $6.70, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,323.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, prices finished around 0.4% higher to tally their third weekly gain in a row.

March silver advanced nearly 10 cents, or 0.5%, to $21.78 an ounce, roughly 1.7% higher on the week.

In a speech on Friday, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said the central bank should continue to reduce the pace of its asset-purchase program. At a separate event, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the U.S. economy is headed for a good year of growth and he expects the Fed to continue tapering the bond-buying program.

Gold futures sold off sharply in 2013 as the Fed moved toward scaling back its monthly bond purchases. The Fed's aggressive quantitative easing program had previously boosted gold in response to fears the measures would undercut the U.S. dollar.

Gold has rebounded since the beginning of the year, after finding some safe-haven support amid turmoil in emerging markets in January and a rebound in physical demand.

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