Precious metals end marginally higher

Mixed finish on a weekly basis though

Bullion metals ended little higher on Friday, 15 November 2013 at Comex. Gold futures edged higher on Friday, scoring their first weekly gain in three, after Federal Reserve Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen voiced support for the central bank's bond-buying program. Precious metals erased earlier losses, gaining support from a weaker dollar index.

Gold for December delivery rose from a session low of $1282.10 per ounce and settled 0.1% higher at $1287.50 per ounce, booking a slight 0.2% gain for the week. They had tallied a loss of 5.1% over the past two weeks.

December silver added a half cent to $20.727 an ounce after gaining 1.3% in the previous session. Prices fell 2.8% for the week, which was their third weekly loss in a row.

At a Senate hearing on Thursday, Yellen, who's nominated to head the Fed, said asset purchases have made a meaningful contribution to the economic recovery.

On the economic front, wholesale inventories increased 0.4% in September after increasing an upwardly revised 0.8% (from 0.5%) in August (consensus +0.3%). The strong gain in wholesale inventories in September, along with the large upward revision to August, will likely result in a sizable upward revision to third quarter GDP. The Bureau of Economic Analysis assumed that wholesale inventories fell 0.1% in September, which was obviously well below what actually occurred.

Export prices, excluding agriculture, ticked down 0.4% in October after increasing 0.3% in the prior reading. Excluding oil, import prices were unchanged, which followed last month's uptick of 0.2%.

Separately, industrial production levels fell 0.1% in October after increasing an upwardly revised 0.7% (from 0.6%) in September (consensus +0.1%). All in all, industrial production held up well in October considering the dire predictions that were associated with the government shutdown. In fact, the government shutdown seemed to have no negative effects on the entire industry.

Lastly, the Empire Manufacturing Survey for November registered a reading of -2.2, which was down from the prior month's reading of 1.5. Market had expected the survey to improve to 4.3.

The dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell by 0.3% on Friday.

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