COMEX gold remained near a 12-week high on Friday morning in Asia and is on track to end the week with a gain of nearly 3.5%. Continued weakness in the US dollar following the US Treasury Department’s announcement of plans to at least double long-term debt buybacks, aimed at containing borrowing costs, has supported gains in precious metals. However, rising oil prices continue to highlight inflationary risks. Gold was last quoted at $4,588.60 an ounce, up 0.38% on the day, while silver futures gained more than 1% to $68.88 an ounce.