Commodities End Anemic Week Mostly Lower

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for August delivery edged up $1.60 to settle at $934.60 an ounce, while July silver slipped 4 cents to $14.20 an ounce. Platinum and palladium both rose, while July copper fell 2.15 cents to $2.2505 a pound.

Gold has been holding its ground due to the falling dollar; investors often turn to gold first to hedge against a weak U.S. currency. The euro rose to $1.3955 on Friday from $1.3903 late Thursday.

Benchmark crude for July delivery dropped $1.82 to settle at $69.55 a barrel in light trading. The July contract is set to close Monday; the next contract, August, fell $1.89 to settle at $70.02 a barrel.

Gasoline for July delivery fell Friday by 10.5 cents, more than 5 percent, to settle at $1.9244 a gallon.

Heating oil dropped 5.03 cents to settle at $1.7867 a gallon, and natural gas for July delivery lost 6.1 cents to settle at $4.032 per 1,000 cubic feet. Up until a sharp 3.8 percent drop on Thursday, natural gas had been rallying for three weeks.

Grain prices were mixed on the Chicago Board of Trade.