Spot Gold Prices Ease Up Ahead of Holiday

New York spot gold prices were trading sideways Friday afternoon metal.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- New York spot gold prices were trading sideways Friday afternoon in advance of the long weekend holiday in the U.S.

Spot gold prices were holding at $1,213 an ounce.

Some investors, according to market watchers, were trading in their precious-metal positions for cash ahead of the Memorial Day weekend.

New York spot silver prices were falling by 15 cents, or 0.8%, to $18.36 an ounce.

New York spot platinum prices, meanwhile, were decreasing $16, or 1%, to $1547 an ounce, while its sister metal was also losing traction.

More on Commodities

New York spot palladium prices were down $2, or 0.4%, to $461 an ounce.

Mining stocks and metals ETFs were heading lower Friday afternoon. Mining stocks offer another form of exposure to precious metals.

North American Palladium

(PAL)

was at $3.44, down 2.3%, while

ETFS Physical Palladium Shares

(PALL) - Get Report

were falling 0.2% to $46.23.

Stillwater Mining

(SWC)

was decreasing 3.9% to $13.18 and

Silver Wheaton

(SLW)

was falling 1.6% to $18.86 .

-- Reported by Andrea Tse in New York

5 Best Stocks in the S&P 500 This Past Week: Twitter Rises