The base metals were nearly all in the red on Friday. Copper was in the green until just after the New York open, then plummeted to the noon hour, before rising a bit late in the day to finish at $2.2724/lb., down 2¾ cents.

Nickel rose until mid-morning and, though it sold off from there, still managed a positive close at $7.0949/lb., up more than 6½ cents. Zinc was flat until mid-morning, but fell off to end at $0.704/lb., down 2¼ cents. Aluminum fell for most of the day, dropping a penny and a third, to $0.7312/lb., while lead was modestly lower, shedding about a penny, to $0.7667/lb.

Copper led the bulk of the industrial metals lower, as the slide in equities weighed on the sector, along with investor profit-taking that could be prolonged into early next week as both the month and the quarter come to an end, with

Gold rose above $942 per ounce on Monday, strengthening as the dollar turned lower against six major currencies with slight caution toward riskier assets also proving supportive.

Gold was at $941.75 per ounce at 1256 GMT, up from $938.05 quoted late in New York on Friday. The precious metal earlier hit an intra-day high at $942.50 but is some way off a two week high of $948.20 hit last Friday.

A cautious approach to risk kept global stock market gains in check, while crude held under $70 per barrel following a bearish report on demand from the IEA, sapping gold’s appeal as a hedge against oil-induced inflation.

Analysts said the precious metal was holding onto gains but lacking upward momentum as currency markets would be indecisive until U.S. non-farm payroll data was released on Thursday.

“The dollar is going to be critical, and as long as it continues to weaken that tends to mean that gold

The base metals were all well into positive territory on Monday. Copper rose from the pre-dawn hours straight through the day, finishing at its intraday high of $2.3724/lb., up better than 18 cents from Friday.

The base metals were all slammed on Thursday. Copper held steady until the New York open, then headed straight down for the rest of the day, finishing at its intraday low of $2.636/lb., down 17 cents. Nickel also plunged, but started earlier and fell more steeply, closing at $6.6776/lb., down 36½ cents.