(Kitco News) - Repercussions from the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program on Wednesday are likely to echo into next week and drive precious prices higher, with $1,400 on the radar screen for gold.

Precious metals trade was extremely volatile in the aftermath of the Fed’s decision to by $600 billion in U.S. Treasury notes and bonds on Wednesday, with prices up and down several times in the immediate action. Precious metals prices then rallied sharply on Thursday, with most other financial markets, with gold making new all-time highs and silver taking out its multi-decade high.

On Friday, December gold futures on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange settled at $1,397.70 an ounce, up 3% on the week. December silver settled at $26.748 an ounce, up 8.9% on the week. The platinum metals group were also strong.
Gold prices set an intraday all-time high of $1,398.70 on Friday and silver set a fresh 30-year high of $26.915. Precious metals prices turned weaker initially after the release of a better-than-expected U.S. unemployment report, but the break only spurred buying interest.

Buying of dips is likely to be a factor in metals trade for at least the short-term, said Spencer Patton, president, Steel Vine Investments. “There is the potential for a pullback, in order to fill the gap on the (December Comex gold) chart from $1,359.20 to $1,368. If we see a pullback it could move to there, but I doubt we’ll see it. There will be lots of buyers,” Patton said.

It’s easy to see gold hitting $1,400 early next week and silver possibly rising to $27 an ounce, Patton said.

“Metals are the place to be,” he said.

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