Gold fell near $610 in Asia but it then rallied in London and traded on either side of $620 to come into New York just slightly lower from Thursday’s close.  Gold soon jumped above $625 before falling back off a bit, but it then rallied into the close and cut nearly all of its losses from Thursday to end just 20 cents from its 25 year closing high made on Wednesday.

Silver fell under $11.70 in Asia before it also rallied back in London, but it still came into New York well below Thursday’s close.  Silver then rallied throughout trade in New York, however, and it even briefly traded above $13 in the last minutes of trade before it fell off slightly, but it still ended with a 4.35% gain to rebound from Thursday’s near 15% losses and actually end higher on the week.

Gold and silver equities rallied throughout trade and ended with nearly 4% gains to rebound from Thursday’s over 6% losses and get back near their all-time highs set on Wednesday.

Euro gold surged back near €515, platinum gained $28 to $1,120 to new 26 year highs, palladium gained $8 to $353, and copper made new all-time highs as it gained almost 13 cents to nearly $3.10 per pound.

More Precious Metals Analysis:

From yesterday’s Midas report by Bill Murphy of LemetropoleCafe.com:

“The correction should be a short one, vicious as it is and might be. The reason is, unlike other moves up in gold, the open interest has not been expanding … because this market has been fueled by a firm cash market along with covering by trapped shorts. Therefore, there is not the speculative excess to be flushed out as in the past. That said, it is only normal for longs, which have made enormous profits in a short period of time, to run for the hills.

Once again, it is extremely important to know what GATA knows and WHY gold is doing what it is. This drop will energize the cash markets. It is the firm demand for physical taking on a continually weakening Gold Cartel which has sent gold to these levels. The cabal has gone through much of the central bank gold stash to prevent gold from going much. Worse for them, their short gold position must continually be covered … with this buying competing with a surging cash market.”

From The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting:

“After some significant back and forth volatility in gold, the market managed to progress through the session with a positive tilt. In fact, the gold market ALSO saw a moderately important BULLISH shift in energy prices and also saw a significant increase in flight to quality levels from the Iranian situation. In other words, soaring oil prices benefited gold from the inflationary angle and the International Atomic Energy Agency's decision to cancel its trip to Iran, certainly rekindled flight to quality expectations. The Dollar was also lower and gold might have seen some spillover support from a record run up in copper prices and from the somewhat impressive recovery action in silver.

The silver market might have transitioned from a weight around the neck of the gold market to a partially supportive element with the action Friday. With the May contract in the mid to later afternoon action showing roughly a 50 to 60 cent bounce from the prior closing price mark off, the debacle from the prior session was mitigated in the minds of some would be investors. We also suspect that favorable equity market action early in the session, soaring copper prices and rising geopolitical uncertainty toward Iran contributed to the psychological turnaround in the action Friday.”

The U.S. dollar index fell on the view that the fed will stop raising interest rates soon and also on some comments out of Russia that “questioned whether the dollar would always maintain its undisputed preeminence as a reserve currency.”  News from the Swedish central bank that they are increasing their euro reserves and decreasing their dollar reserves also hurt the dollar.

Oil rolled over from May to June as the most forward contract, with May’s contract closing out yesterday at 71.95 and June’s contract opening today at $73.69.  The June contract started off the day lower on news of some production coming back on line, but it soon began to move higher and surged over 2% to new record highs over $75 by the close.  Among the reasons cited for the move were declining gasoline stocks and rising gasoline prices heading into the high demand summer driving season, rising geopolitical worries over Iran, Iraq, and Nigeria, and concerns that the upcoming hurricane season may be worse than normal and take more production off line later in the year.

Treasuries gained on expectations for a halt in interest rates hikes and on renewed investment demand with the yield on the 10-year hovering around 5%.

The Dow and S&P traded mostly higher on decent earnings while the Nasdaq traded mostly lower, but all three indices fell off in the last 2 hours of trade to find minor losses as oil scaled $75.  The Dow was able to bounce back in the last minutes of trade, however, and ended slightly higher at a new 6 year closing high.

Among the big names making news in the market Friday were Dell, Schlumberger, McDonald’s, RadioShack, Google, 3M, and Ford.

GATA Posts:

Dollar falls as Sweden slashes holdings in half

Ed Steer: A last desperate act?

Moneyweb discovers that it can't put GATA down

Morgan Chase to pay $425 million for manipulating markets

Gold & Silver Stock News Update from GoldReview.com:

Eldorado Gold’s Tanjianshan project update and start-up of the Kisladag gold mine, Metallica’s adoption of a shareholder rights plan, Entree Gold’s listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Sterling Mining’s option agreement with Red Lake, Pan American’s closed offering of common shares, and Minefinders’ closed C$93,500,000 financing were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines Friday.

WINNERS

LOSERS

All of Friday's gold and silver stock news:

Yankee Hat Retains Tangent Management Corp. for Investor Relations - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Acero-Martin Exploration Inc.: Additional Assays and Second Drill Rig on Pinaya - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Valencia Announces Date of Annual Shareholders Meeting - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Sterling Mining Approves Option Agreement with Red Lake Resources to Explore the JE Project in Montana - "The JE Project consists of 35 unpatented mining claims covering approximately 700 acres in Saunders County, Montana. The project is within the Montana Copper-Sulphide Belt, a 1,600-square-mile zone which hosts the Troy, Rock Creek and Montanore stratiform silver-copper deposits. The JE property is located 3 miles north of the Rock Creek Mine. Exploration conducted by U.S. Borax and Santa Fe Pacific Minerals in the 1980's outlined a large copper-silver anomaly on the property." More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

IAMGOLD First Quarter Release Date and Annual General Meeting - "IAMGOLD Corporation, will release its first quarter results on Friday May 12, 2006 before the North American markets open. Joseph Conway, President and CEO, will host a conference call to discuss these results on the same day, May 12, at 11:00 a.m. EST." More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Aurora Gold Corporation is Pleased to Announce That our Wholly Owned Brazilian Subsidiary, Aurora Gold Mineração Ltda, has Entered Into a Memorandum - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Molycor Silverado Grab Samples - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Tao Minerals Inc. Announces Reallocation of Shares For Cancellation - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Oromin Appoints New Director - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Guyana Goldfields Announces Closing of Financing - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Eldorado Gold Corporation: Tanjianshan Project Update - "The revised LOM plan based on current reserves produces 1,016,000 ounces at a cash cost of $227 per ounce. Through Eldorado's capital investment in the Tanjianshan project we will own 90% and anticipate Eldorado's 2006 production to total 40,000 ounces at a cash cost of $320. The significantly higher than average cost for 2006 reflects early high strip ratios associated with uncovering ore in the two pits." More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Gold Hawk Resources Inc.: Amendment to Stock Option Plan and Grant of Stock Options - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

American Bonanza Announces High Grade Gold in Drilling at La Martiniere - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

RETRANSMISSION: Gryphon Reports Significant Drill Results from Graben Zone, Borealis, Nevada - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Entourage Mining Ltd. Announces Anomalous Gold in Nevada Drilling and Provides Exploration Update - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

ACREX undertakes additional $705,000 private placement financing - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

North American Palladium Reports First Quarter 2006 Operating Performance - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

San Gold Corporation Welcomes Sprott Asset Management as a Shareholder - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Buffalo Lists on NASDAQ OTCBB - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

NioGold closes $3 million private placement - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

YSV Ventures Inc.: Press Release - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Pearl Asian Mining Industries Inc. (PAIM) SqueezeTrigger Price Is $0.00022 - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Tao Minerals Inc. Announces Share Cancellation - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Pan American Silver closes over-allotment portion of US$150 million public offering of common shares - "Pan American Silver Corp. has closed the issuance of 531,407 common shares at a price of US$23.88 per share pursuant to the exercise of an over-allotment option by its underwriting syndicate, for gross proceeds of US$12,689,999 and proceeds, after deducting underwriting fees, of US$12,182,399." More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Minefinders Closes CDN$93,500,000 Equity Financing - "Minefinders Corporation Ltd. has issued 11 million common shares at a price of CDN$8.50 per share, for gross proceeds of CDN$93.5 million, pursuant to its previously-announced public offering of common shares. Included in the offering were 1,000,000 common shares issued on the exercise of an over-allotment option granted by the Company to the underwriters." More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Metallica Resources Announces Adoption of Shareholder Rights Plan - "The purpose of the Plan is to provide shareholders and the Board of Directors with additional time to assess and evaluate any unsolicited bid for the Company, and to provide the Board with adequate time to identify, develop and negotiate alternatives to any unsolicited bid in order to maximize shareholder value. The Plan is not intended to block takeover bids for the Company that treat shareholders fairly. The Plan is not being adopted in response to any proposal to acquire control of the Company." More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Eldorado Announces Start-up of the Kisladag Gold Mine - "Paul N. Wright, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eldorado Gold Corporation, is pleased to announce the start-up of the Kisladag gold mine in Turkey. All of the operating permits necessary for the production of gold at Kisladag have now been received, the process plant has been commissioned, and leaching solution is being applied to the leach pad. Currently there are 1,000,000 tonnes of oxide ore on the leach pad and by the end of the year we plan to have placed a total of 5,500,000 tonnes on the heap." More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Mexgold Resources Announces New Resource and Reserve Calculation at the El Cubo - Las Torres Mine Complex - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Alexis Minerals Corporation: Significant Potential Remains Untested at Louvex Target - More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Entree Gold to Trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange - "The Company will trade on the TSX under the same symbol "ETG", and continue to trade on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol "EGI". "Graduating to the Toronto Stock Exchange marks another milestone in the development of Entree," said President and CEO, Greg Crowe." More
- April 21, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Would you like to receive the Free Daily Gold Seeker Report in your e-mail? Click here

Do you have questions, comments, or suggestions about this report?  Email Chris Mullen at cm@goldseek.com

- Written by Chris Mullen

Winners & Losers tracks NYSE and AMEX listed stocks that trade over $1.

The Gold Seeker Closing Report is a free edition providing a daily wrap-up of gold & gold-related news.  For more in-depth analysis of the gold markets, subscribe to The Gold Forecaster.

All sources are given within the report and most articles can be found as they are released at http://www.capitalupdates.com/, http://www.goldseek.com/, http://www.silverseek.com/, and http://www.goldreview.com/.

© Gold Seeker 2006

Note: This article may be reproduced provided the article, in full, is used and mention to Gold-Seeker.com is given.

Disclosure: The owner, editor, writer and publisher and their associates are not responsible for errors or omissions.  The author of this report is not a registered financial advisor.  Readers should not view this material as offering investment related advice. Gold-Seeker.com has taken precautions to ensure accuracy of information provided. Information collected and presented are from what is perceived as reliable sources, but since the information source(s) are beyond Gold-Seeker.com’s control, no representation or guarantee is made that it is complete or accurate.  The reader accepts information on the condition that errors or omissions shall not be made the basis for any claim, demand or cause for action.  Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results.  Any statements non-factual in nature constitute only current opinions, which are subject to change.  Nothing contained herein constitutes a representation by the publisher, nor a solicitation for the purchase or sale of securities & therefore information, nor opinions expressed, shall be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any stock, futures or options contract mentioned herein.  Investors are advised to obtain the advice of a qualified financial & investment advisor before entering any financial transaction.