Gold, silver turn positive

Gold and silver continued down a slippery slope early on Friday in European trading, but by midday in New York had turned positive.

Gold futures touched fresh multi-year lows of $1,269 an ounce before clawing back some of the dramatic losses of yesterday to hit a day best of $1,302.

Gold Price Charts

Spot silver prices tumbled as low as $19.41 an ounce, the lowest level since September 2010, but by early afternoon trade in New York was back above $20 an ounce.

Silver Price Charts

SEE ALSO: Gold price drops $97 to September 2010 level

The sell-off on precious metals markets began Thursday on the heels of chairman Ben Bernanke comments that seemed to indicate the US Federal Reserve’s could start dialing back its stimulus program as soon as this year.