Gold tops $4,900, silver heads for weekly losses

Gold futures rose on Friday following volatile trading on Thursday, while silver prices declined and were on track to post losses for a second consecutive week.

April gold futures gained 0.65%, or $31.10, to $4,920.60 per ounce.

Spot gold rose 1.9% to $4,870.63 per ounce, while spot silver jumped about 5.5% to trade at $74.83 per ounce.

The US dollar index — which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies — was steady at 97.78 points as of 9:01 a.m. Makkah time.

Meanwhile, March silver futures fell 2.25% to $75 per ounce. Spot platinum added about 1% to $2,011.52, while palladium was steady at $1,657.68 per ounce.