COMEX gold ended higher on Friday, seesawing in the last session of an erratic week as the dollar sought direction after a batch of mixed US economic data.
Platinum took the baton and soared to prices not seen since 1980, as interest and volatility in gold and silver subsided.
"I told our funds that gold is still a euro trade," said Robert Gottlieb, head of bullion trading at HSBC.
"However, we've seen a great deal of liquidation by macros and CTA funds in the last couple of weeks," he continued, referring to hedge funds and commodity trading advisors, "and if the euro holds today, then I think we've seen the lows for a while in gold."
The euro did rise, helping April gold shake off its weak open to settle up $1.30 at $396.80 an ounce. The contract bounced from $392.30 to $398.40, after setting a 14-week low at $391 on Thursday.
Gold longs had been concerned about a fall below important technical support at $390 an ounce if the dollar continued to recover from last week's record low against the euro.
"Gold keeps making new lows on downward moves," said Leonard Kaplan, president of Prospector Asset Management. "But at the end of the day, it's all the dollar."
Its weak start coincided with the second, preliminary report on fourth-quarter gross domestic product, which rose an annualised 4.1 percent, slightly better than last month's advance 4.0 percent rate of economic expansion. The dollar back-pedalled after stretching its recovery to $1.2374 per euro in early trade.
Later February reports showing a drop in the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index to 94.4 from 103.8 in January and a fall in the Chicago Purchasing Management Index to 63.6 from January's 65.9 added to the uncertainty about the strength of the economy.
The euro was last at $1.2479/82, up from $1.2434/40 late Thursday.
"Has there been a sea change in the dollar's prospects now that we've improved this much? It's hard to make that case," said James Pogoda, a vice president of precious metals at Mitsubishi International Corp, adding that gold was moving almost tick for tick with the euro.
The last quote in spot gold was $396.10/6.80, up from Thursday's $394.80/5.30 close. Friday's second London fix was at $395.85.
May silver eased 1.5 cents to $6.715 an ounce, trading $6.79-$6.58 - a relatively narrow range considering its recent extreme moves.
Funds took advantage of silver's notoriously thin market conditions to run prices to six-year highs last week. They saw it as a two-for-one bet, expecting it to feed off recent rallies in both precious and industrial metals.
Spot silver slipped to $6.68/70 from the prior close at $6.69/71. Friday's fix was $6.58.
NYMEX April platinum rose $20 to $887.40 an ounce, hitting a lifetime high for the contract. Spot closed at $880.00/885.00.
Dealers said New York played catch up with Tokyo's platinum price, which jumped on short-covering overnight.
June palladium rose $3.25 to $232.65. Spot fetched $225.50/231.50.
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