Gold ends lower as Cyprus concerns cool
Gold and silver end the week lower, agriculture and energy contracts mixed.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Gold ended lower on Friday, as investors looked for signs that the banking crisis in Cyprus could be resolved before long and the stock market regained some of its losses for the week.
April gold fell $7.70 to settle at $1606.10 an ounce. May silver was down 51.4 cents to end at $28.6980. Copper for May delivery rose 3.1 cents to $3.4660. Platinum and palladium moved higher as well. April platinum was up $1.60 to $1,581.70 an ounce and June palladium rose $4.70 to $761.55.
Agricultural contracts were mixed. Wheat finished 1 cent higher at $7.2975 a bushel. Corn lost 6.75 cents to $7.2625 a bushel and soybeans ended down 8.5 cents at $14.4050 per bushel.
In energy futures trading benchmark crude rose $1.26 to end at $93.71 a barrel. April gasoline was down almost a cent at $3.9270 a gallon. Heating oil fell 1.2 cents to $2.8843 a gallon and natural gas lost less than a cent at $3.9270 per 1,000 cubic feet.
