Gold / Silver / Copper futures - Weekly outlook: April 22 - 26 (investing.com)

          Gold futures ended Friday’s session higher, as investors returned to the market to seek cheap valuations amid speculation prices fell too far too fast.

Reports of mounting physical demand in Asia and the U.S. also contributed to gains.

Gold futures plunged to the lowest level since January 2011 earlier in the week as a bout of technical selling kicked in after prices broke below key support levels.  

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery rose 0.8% on Friday to settle the week at USD1,403.35 a troy ounce.

Earlier in the session, Comex gold rose to a session high of USD1,424.55 a troy ounce, but prices failed to hold on to those gains as sentiment on the precious metal remains bearish. 

Gold prices were likely to find support at USD1,322.25 a troy ounce, the low from April 16 and a 27-month low and near-term resistance at USD1,425.55, Friday’s high.

Despite Friday’s upbeat performance, gold futures lost 5.4% on the week, the fourth consecutive weekly decline.

Prices of the precious metal are now down almost 26% since hitting an all-time high of USD1,920.80 an ounce in September 2011, sparking fears that gold’s bull run is coming to an end.

Sentiment on the precious metal has been bearish amid speculation the Federal Reserve could end its bond-buying program sooner-than-expected and following a sell recommendation from Goldman Sachs earlier in the month. 

News that Cyprus was to sell some of its gold reserves to raise funds for its bailout also weighed on sentiment, as it sparked concerns other debt-ridden European governments would be forced to do the same.

In the week ahead, investors will be awaiting Friday’s U.S. data on first quarter growth. Investors will be closely watching this data as they attempt to gauge the strength of the U.S. recovery. 

Any improvement in the U.S. economy could scale back expectations for further easing from the Federal Reserve.

Moves in the gold price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank could bring quantitative easing, one of the biggest boosts to gold’s bull run, to an end this year.

Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for May delivery shed 0.2% on Friday to settle the week at USD23.19 a troy ounce. Silver future prices lost 10.5% on the week, the sixth consecutive weekly decline and the biggest since September 2011. 

Comex silver fell to USD22.01 a troy ounce on April 16, the lowest since October 5, 2010. 

Silver has been on the decline given “weak industrial demand and mixed investor interest,” analysts at Barclays wrote in a research note earlier in the month.

Meanwhile, copper for May delivery tumbled 1.7% on Friday to close the week at USD3.150 a pound. On the week, Comex copper prices retreated 5.5%. 

Comex copper prices plunged to USD3.065 a pound on Thursday, the weakest level since October 20, 2011. 

Prices of the red metal are down more than 20% since hitting a recent high of USD3.978 a pound hit in February 2012, meeting the standard for a bear market.

Copper futures have been under heavy selling pressure in recent sessions as global growth concerns and worries over a slowdown in demand weighed heavily on the industrial metal.