PRECIOUS METALS: Gold reached record highs at the start of the week and continued higher from there to finish with an all-time peak of $1,486.07 an ounce.
Investors piled into the safe-haven precious metal amid spikes to global inflation and fresh eurozone debt worries.
"Gold hit yet another record high ... and silver charged to another 31-year high as inflation concerns and some fresh safe-haven investment demand pushed the precious metals still higher," said Ian O'Sullivan, analyst at Spread Co trading group.
"The ongoing simmering European sovereign debt concerns and inflationary price pressures coming from ... China and the US continue to drive investors to buy the precious metals as an inflation hedge."
Record-breaking gold will likely soar past $1,600 per for the first time later this year, driven by fears over high inflation, consultancy GFMS forecast Wednesday.
Gold is a traditional safe-haven store of value in troubled times.
The metal hit its latest highs after China said inflation jumped to a 32-month high, suggesting Beijing's efforts to rein in soaring costs are still falling short.
China's consumer price index rose 5.4 percent year-on-year in March -- the fastest pace since July 2008 and well above the government's 2011 target of four percent -- and 5.0 percent in the first quarter.
The US consumer price index rose by 0.5 percent in March, while India's inflation rate unexpectedly accelerated while eurozone price rises ran at 2.7 percent last month, way above a 2.0 percent target.
Elsewhere on Friday, Moody's cut its credit ratings on Ireland by two notches to just above junk status, citing an "expected decline" in government finances that is set to hamper recovery of the indebted eurozone nation.
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold rose to $1,476.75 an ounce from $1,469.50 a week earlier.
Silver climbed to $42.61 an ounce from $40.22.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum fell to $1,787 an ounce from $1,803.
Palladium dropped to $772 an ounce from $798. For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today
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