Other metals weakened along with gold and silver. May copper HGK5, -1.71% dropped 4.35 cents, or 1.6%, to $2.7675 a pound — up roughly 0.2% for the week.
April platinum PLJ5, -1.20% fell $10.40, or 0.9%, to $1,143.60 an ounce — 0.2% higher from the week-ago settlement. June palladium PAM5, -4.58% gave up $32.35, or 4.2%, to $741 an ounce, losing around 4.9% for the week.
Gold futures settled with a loss on Friday, putting an end to a seven-session stretch of gains that had lifted prices to their highest level in more than three weeks.
Prices rallied particularly strongly over the past two trading sessions as declines in global equities and turmoil in Yemen helped buoy safe-haven investment demand for the metal.
Gold for April delivery GCJ5, -0.56% shed $5, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,199.80 an ounce Friday on Comex. During their seven-session climb, gold futures tallied a total gain of 4.9%. For the week, prices gained 1.3%.
May silver SIK5, -0.99% settled down 7.1 cents, or 0.4%, at $17.069 an ounce, leaving it with a weekly gain of 1.1%.
Penny stocks accounted for most of the action in the local market today, although a couple of blue chips, too, got a fair share of attention.
Some of the most actively traded small caps included Ellipsiz, which rose 12.9% to 13.1 cents; SIIC Environment, which put on 2.5% to 16.7 cents; Mirach Energy, which ended flat at 5.9 cents; and Albedo, which surged 25% to one cent.
A total of 1.6 billion shares worth $1.12 billion changed hands, compared with 1.5 billion shares worth $1.21 billion on Thursday.
Gainers outnumbered decliners 257 to 146.
The Straits Times Index rose 0.5% to 3,450.10.
The biggest gainer among blue chips was Golden Agri-Resources, which rose 7.4% to a five-week high of 43.5 cents.
Some 112.3 million Golden Agri shares were traded, making the palm oil producer the most active stock in the market. The renewed interest came after the shares sank to a six-year low of 39.5 cents last week.
Noble Group climbed 1.6% to 94.5 cents on a volume of 36 million shares.
"The law of diminishing returns has clearly set in on Iceberg Research’s third research report against Noble Group," said DBS Vickers, noting that the stock actually gained 4.5% when the final report was released on March 23.
The little-known research outfit has accused Noble of, among other things, understating its debt and overstating the value of its associates on its balance sheet.
