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Comex silver ends 1999 at 11-wk high, gold fades

NEW YORK: Silver futures ushered out the millennium with another rally, closing at an 11-week high while gold's last session of 1999 ended with a whimper as dealers squared up before the four-day New Year's weekend.

"There wasn't much underneath gold and there wasn't much above in the silver market," said David Rinehimer, director of commodities research at Salomon Smith Barney. "It's probably just some position squaring in a thin market and sort of a vacuum as far as bids and offers."

Comex March silver rose 3.8 cents to $5.453, the highest close since October 13, when the contract was still consolidating its late-September rally to a 17-month high of $5.95. The day's range was $5.37 to $5.47.

Though Nymex/Comex held regular trading hours on Thursday, some traders departed early, exacerbating already-thin conditions and thereby exaggerating price swings.

Exchanges worldwide are closed Friday for New Year's Eve and the computer switchover to the year 2000.

Nymex/Comex will be closed until Tuesday, January 4 to ensure a smooth Y2K transition. But most other US exchanges will be open Monday.

Spot silver ended the year at $5.40/42, up almost 8.0 percent from $5.02, where it closed on December 31, 1998.

After a bit of early dithering, Thursday's rally extended the previous day's abrupt 17-cent surge on hedge fund buying, which flung March silver over the $5.30/33 resistance area.

February gold fell $2.80 to $289.60 an ounce, most of the selloff coming in late trade after a morning of no real movement. The range was $289.30 to $292.90.

Spot gold closed at $287.80/8.80, down from Wednesday's New York close at $290.20/1.20 and London's late fix at $290.25 but showing virtually no change from the $288 an ounce closing level of 1998.

Profit taking from sharp rallies pushed Nymex April platinum down $4.10 to $422.20 an ounce while March palladium fell $5.45 to $449.20 an ounce.

Both metals set contract highs this week, capping a year of stellar gains and concern about shipments of material from Russia, producer of two thirds of all palladium and a fifth of the world's platinum.

On a spot continuation basis, palladium is up about 34 percent year on year and platinum appreciated about 18 percent. They ended 1998 at $332.15 and $364.20 an ounce, respectively.-Reuters