This week, the metals fell down hills and mountainsides and began their individual climbs out of valleys and ravines.
Let’s look at the charts. First, there’s gold:
Next is silver:
Third is platinum:
Fourth is palladium:
Both gold and silver began the week slightly upward from Friday’s close. On the other hand, both platinum and palladium continued their downward fall.
Gold had started up on Friday and continued up on Monday to its highest peak for the week. On Tuesday, gold fell rather sharply and moved upward slightly on both Wednesday and Thursday. By Friday, gold’s upward momentum increased, not enough to recover the week’s losses, but the climb was significant.
Somewhat similar, silver began the week only a few pennies above Friday’s close, then like gold, the silver prices dropped significantly on Tuesday getting below $34 during the day. Wednesday and Thursday saw relatively flat values on silver’s New York close market. Again, like gold, Friday’s market saw an upward increase in silver, not enough to recover the losses, but at least the values were back over $35.
Both platinum and palladium continued downward due in part to the automotive industry’s impact from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami damage. Though both of these metals have many uses in various industries and in collectibles, the automotive industry is a significant part of their market.
Platinum experienced a small uptick in value the previous Friday, but on Monday, the metal lost all of the Friday’s gains. Tuesday’s market saw another sharp fall which continued into Wednesday with a slight drop further. On Thursday, the metal began a small upward climb which became steeper and longer on Friday.
Somewhat different, palladium had been falling since the previous Tuesday and continued its fall on Monday. Like the other metals, palladium’s value experienced a sharp drop on Tuesday and another slight drop on Wednesday. Like platinum, palladium began an upward climb on Thursday with a sharper climb on Friday.
None of the metals gained new highs this week, however platinum and palladium sunk to new, recent low points. Let’s look at the 30-day performance tables:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Mar 18 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,437.50 | $1,371.25 | $1,419.70 | 4.6% |
| Silver | $36.60 | $30.61 | $35.28 | 16.4% |
| Platinum | $1,848.00 | $1,689.00 | $1,721.00 | 8.6% |
| Palladium | $859.00 | $696.00 | $729.00 | 19.0% |
Platinum went under $1700 and palladium under $700 for the first time since early December.
Let’s compare this Friday’s New York closing market values to the previous Friday’s close:
| Mar 11 Last | Mar 18 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,419.60 | $1,419.70 | 0.0% | $0.10 |
| Silver | $35.90 | $35.28 | -1.7% | -$0.62 |
| Platinum | $1,777.00 | $1,721.00 | -3.2% | -$56.00 |
| Palladium | $757.00 | $729.00 | -3.7% | -$28.00 |
Gold, as the only metal to gain this week, increased ten whole cents per ounce from Friday to Friday.
With turmoil in the mid-east, disaster recovery in the PAC-RIM and economic upheaval domestically, next week’s metals’ market should be interesting.