Most metals prices see gains

Metals prices were mixed on Friday, with most precious and base metals higher but a few bucking trends and falling slightly.

Gold saw gains as investors looked for inflation-proof investments after crude oil prices remained high and the dollar weakened again in relation to the euro.

June gold was $7.40 higher to $925.70 per troy ounce near the end of floor trade in New York, while July silver added 26 cents to $18.29 per troy ounce but July platinum dropped $3.80 to $2,180 per troy ounce.

Most base metals prices also climbed, some after initial declines on the session.

July copper added 2 cents to $3.74 per pound in New York while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange added $50 to $8,180 per tonne on demand forecasts after falling as low as $8,040 earlier in the session.

Nickel was also down initially, falling as low as $22,350 per tonne before recovering to gain $600 to trade at $24,100 per tonne.

Aluminium added $2 to trade at $3,002 per tonne while zinc gained $35 to $2.145 per tonne and tin split the difference after trading in a range of $23,700/$23,800 per tonne on Thursday to end the week at $23,750 per tonne.

Lead bucked the trend, losing a slight $1 to trade at $2,009 per tonne on inventories that have added almost 40 percent since the beginning of the year.