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A four month miner’s strike at the Impala Platinum mines in South Africa has affected the price of platinum and palladium, but so far, the price for other precious metals remains unaffected, according to Reuters.
“Gold has been trapped in a very compressed range for well over a month, but we suspect that we could see a substantial move in the days ahead once the Ukrainian elections are over,” financial services company INTL FCStone said in a note.
Likewise, silver failed to make any big moves on Friday with silver spot prices gaining a mere $0.01 to $19.47 an ounce. Silver futures on the other hand slipped ever so slightly with silver for June delivery down $0.04 to $19.48 an ounce on the Comex.
On the London Metal Exchange, copper was given a bump of $34.53 to $6,906.50 a tonne. The optimism from recent reports coming from the U.S. Federal Reserve was tempered by concerns about Chinese factory production.
“Copper remains supported above $6,850 by lower stockpiles and higher premiums for immediate deliveries,” RBC Capital Markets LLC said in a note to Bloomberg.
Copper futures for July delivery on the Comex were up, rising $0.022 to $3.16 a pound, according to Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Brent crude prices rose by only $0.03 to $110.39 a barrel, according to The Wall Street Journal. Researchers at financial services firm Macquarie believe that a balance on the market between bullish and bearish bets on Brent crude have kept it in a tight range, although they expect there to be a “disruption” of this trend later in the year.