Precious metals rallied this week following a weaker US dollar that was pushed lower by a series of economic reports, including the Labor Department’s higher than expected unemployment figures of 10.2 percent — a more than 26-year high. Gold reached an all-time high and silver soared. Crude oil tumbled on Friday by nearly 3 percent but still managed to post a small weekly gain. In stocks for the week, European indexes were higher and the three major US indexes advanced more than 3 percent.

In London bullion weekly figures, gold jumped 5.5 percent, silver surged 5.8 percent and platinum rose 2.0 percent. Friday precious metals prices follow:

London silver closed to $17.53 an ounce, rising 95 cents from last Friday’s close. New York December silver futures ended at $17.375 for a weekly increase of $1.12.

London gold was fixed at $1,096.75 an ounce and rose $56.75 this week. New York gold for December delivery finished at $1,095.70 for a weekly advance of $55.30.

London platinum ended at $1,347.00 an ounce, climbing $27.00 since last Friday’s close. New York platinum for January delivery ended at $1,348.20, gaining $21.90 on the week. Read the rest of this entry »