Precious metals futures finished higher on Friday, helped by a crude oil rally, but bullion investors remained cautious in absence of definite signs of economic recovery and rising inflation.

Gold futures gained slightly and settled up 0.22 and 0.06 percent on COMEX and MCX respectively. Silver futures rose by
1.27 percent on COMEX and closed flat on MCX.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said holdings stood at 1,094.54 tonnes as of July 17, down 0.31 tonnes from 1,094.85 tonnes the previous business day.

Gold Fields, the world's No. 4 gold producer, lost between 50-60 kg of production during a shutdown of a shaft at its Kloof Gold mine in South Africa following a fatality at the mine earlier this week. Spokesman Julian Gwillim said on Friday the company plans to make up the lost production during the next quarter.

U. S. Housing numbers turned out to be better-than-expected. Building permits number in June was found to be 563k against the expected 520k. Housing start number turned out to be 582k against the expected 530k.

A mixed bag of U. S. corporate earnings failed to convince that the economic crisis is over, and that increased gold's safehaven appeal - traders.

Precious metals are likely to trade up on the back of firm energy prices and inflationary concerns sparked after rally in crude oil. We recommend buying in precious metals.