Gold prices ended the week on a high note on the back of a weaker US dollar, up four percent for the week to $1,289.65 per ounce.
According to the Wall Street Journal, that’s the highest level for the yellow metal in 15-months. The US dollar fell two percent this week, while weak economic data supported safe haven buying.
On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve once again left interest rates unchanged, marking the third straight meeting that the Fed has left interest rates the same in 2016. Gold prices gained both before and after the meeting, as many investors and market watchers were not expecting a rise in rates.
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The silver price, was also on the rise this week, gaining just over 4.1 percent to trade at $17.75 per ounce by Friday at 1:55 p.m. EST. The white metal has now breaked its May 2015 high, as per DailyFX.
The metal hit an 11-month high on Wednesday, but some analysts are hesitant that silver’s upward momentum could continue.
On the base metals side of things, comex copper prices also managed to take some gains for the week, bumping up 0.39 percent to $2.29 per pound as of 2:01 p.m. EST. Prices fell mid-week on waning industrial demand for the red metal, and on news that LME copper stocks had reached their highest level this month, according to Bloomberg. However, copper prices were back on the rise on Friday after weak US jobs data pushed the dollar down.
Finally, oil prices fell slightly on Friday, but still finished the week up roughly 5.63 percent at $45.44 per barrel. As Reuters reported, the energy commodity earlier hit its highest level in 2016 on Friday after US oil rig counts came in at 332, down from 679 last year. That news, along with a weaker dollar, encouraged optimism that oil oversupply could be waning.
Brent crude futures were down 17 cents to $47.97 per barrely by 1:07 p.m. EST. Meanwhile, US crude lots 20 cents to