Gold prices rose Friday for the second strong week in a row. Comex spot gold was at $US1,213.90 an ounce on Friday, up $US2.70 an ounce from Thursday.
Silver ended at $US18.10 an ounce, to be down 2% over the week.
Over the week gold rose 0.9%. Gold hit a six-week high on Thursday, on the weak weekly jobless claims that added to investor worries about the recovery.
And copper prices fell for the first week in four on those concerns about the impact of slowing economies in the US and Chinese economies.
The metal's rally to three-month highs last week at $7,527 a tonne in London and $3.4105 per lb in New York stalled this week as recent data from the US suggested a considerable slowdown in the pace of economic recovery.
Fundamentals could cushion a potential fall in copper prices, with global output down sharply in the first half of 2010, signalling a tighter supply/demand balance in the months ahead.
A continued drawdown in LME stockpiles, suggesting improving demand, had boosted copper futures by around 21 per cent from eight-month lows touched in early June.
In Shanghai, copper inventories rose 7.1 per cent to 113,870 tonnes this week, data from Shanghai Futures Exchange showed, the second straight week of increase.
Comex December copper futures fell 3.3c, or 1%, to close at $US3.2725 a pound in New York. That left the metal down 2.7% for the week, the first such drop in four weeks.
Three month LME copper fell $US99, or 1.4%, to $US7,156 a tonne or $US3.25 a pound.
Aluminum, zinc, lead and nickel prices also dropped in London. Tin was up.
A modest rebound in retail sales in July also showed hints of lingering economic softness.
But the gains were rolled back after the US open and as the dollar rallied sharply on its way to its strongest weekly performance in almost two years against a basket of currencies.
Tight supply looks to be a feature of other metal markets as well. In aluminum worries about near-term supplies have narrowed the contango - the discount between the cash and three-month contracts - to about $8 a tonne from $33 a tonne mid-June.
It ended down $53.50 at $2,110 a tonne. Zinc eased $9 to $2,047 a tonne, and lead dropped $43 to close at $2,057 a tonne.
LME cash tin moved to a premium over the three-month price, going into backwardation for the first time in more than eight months.
The backwardation suggests looming tightness in supply, although tin is a relatively illiquid market and is the smallest on the LME.
Indonesia, the world's largest exporter of the metal, said on Thursday its refined tin output for 2010 may fall 20 per cent from a government target of 105,000 tonnes as unseasonably long rains hamper mining.
Three-month LME tin rose $250 to $20,750 a tonne, while nickel shed $225 to end at $21,275 a tonne.
