Gold futures settle at their highest in a week

San Francisco (Apr 24)  Gold futures climbed on Thursday, extending gains from a day earlier to finish at their highest level in a week. "Given the deteriorating situation in Ukraine, we expect safe-haven demand to support gold and to aid price gains in the coming weeks," said Mark O'Byrne, a director at GoldCore. June gold rose $6, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,290.60 an ounce on Comex. That was the highest settlement since April 17.

Elsewhere in the metals complex, prices closed broadly higher. May silver  climbed 25 cents, or 1.3%, to end at $19.69 an ounce. High-grade copper for May delivery rose 6 cents, or 2%, to $3.12 a pound.

July platinum  added $5.70, or 0.4%, to $1,409.60 an ounce and June palladium   rose $16.30, or 2.1%, to $802.30 an ounce.

The platinum-group metals “have come off recently as the strike situation in South Africa appears to be nearing a conclusion,” said Mike McGlone, U.S. director of research at ETF Securities.

“If so, the PGM’s are widely expected to suffer in the short term,” he said, “but the bigger picture situation remains: they are markets in supply demand deficits for the third year running, likely to result in price adjustments upward.”

Gold and silver miners traded mainly lower Thursday afternoon, however, with the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index losing 1%. Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.  tacked on 1.3% after the company early Thursday reported first-quarter earnings that declined from a year ago, but topped Wall Street’s expectations.