Gold posts third straight weekly gain on U.S. economic worries

Friday, Feb. 21: The yellow metal rallied to a 3-1/2 month high earlier this week after a series of disappointing U.S. economic indicators including weak manufacturing data sparked speculation that the Federal Reserve would slow the tapering of its bond purchases. Miguel Perez-Santalla, vice president at online precious metals market BullionVault, said the metal’s ability to hold above key technical support at $1,200 an ounce earlier this year rekindled fund interest to buy gold.

Among other metals, silver gained 0.4 percent to $21.88 an ounce. Palladium was up 1.1 percent at $1,426.24 an ounce, while platinum rose 0.8 percent to $739.50 an ounce.