Gold Bullion prices ticked higher in London trade on Friday, recovering half of yesterday's 1.5% drop from new record highs above $1447 per ounce as
Silver Prices also rallied, regaining a third of Thursday's 3.2% drop from new 31-year highs above $38.20 – some 112% higher from this time last year vs. the Dollar.
European stock markets meantime gave back early gains, but neared the weekend 2.9% higher from last Friday.
The Euro currency meantime slipped back to $1.4130 – one US cent up on the week – as EU politicians signed their "comprehensive package" of stability fund promises, but Portuguese bonds fell sharply again, driving 10-year yields to new post-union highs of 7.80%.
Japanese authorities widened the exclusion zone around the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, while British warplanes attacked Gaddafi targets in Ajdabiya, "where Libyan rebels are trying to retake the town," according to the BBC.
A new "day of rage" brought hundreds of thousands of both pro- and anti-government protesters onto the streets of Yemen's capital Sanaa.
"Continued conflict in Libya, growing focus on the European debt crisis and uncertainty surrounding the longer-term impact of the Japanese earthquake should keep investors interested in gold and silver," reckons the commodity team at South Africa's Standard Bank today.
But gold and Silver Bullion markets "temporarily seem tired of both [the Libyan and Japanese] stories," says another London dealer in a note.
Data from TrimTabs this week showed US investors pouring record volume of cash into Japanese equity funds, doubling the previous 1-day record on March 16th – just 5 days after the earthquake and tsunami which killed at least 10,000 people.
With Spanish banks said to be "crawling with hedge fund and private equity people" in a bid to avoid a Madrid bail-out today, "At some point the currency market will wake up the Eurozone debt crisis," says Standard Bank forex strategist Steven Barrow. "But for now, the market seems blinkered."
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