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Bullish pullback?

Person believes the price declines this week were actually a"healthy correction" in what he sees as a"longer term up-trending market."

Peter Grandich, editor of The Grandich Letter, agreed. The fall in gold prices"could actually increase the chances we go to $500 or higher."

For one, the market had"many Johnny-come-lately speculators come into the metals futures market from December to March," he explained, and now"they appear to be the ones blowing themselves up."

Physical buying in most metals has been strong. While the U.S. dollar"traced out a textbook countertrend rally that appears to be over, deficits and debt levels are worsening, and inflation is surfacing," he said.

Grandich downplayed the metals market's scare over China's move to reduce bank lending, noting that the Asian country's economy grew about 9 percent last year and that estimates show growth could now be at 15 percent.

"So if they slowed it down by half, that's still close to last year," he said."And with base metal supplies at or near record lows, the lack of exploration for the last several years should prevent large increases in supplies over the next few years."

Looking ahead, a long weekend with Monday holidays in key metals markets and Mideast tensions"should still provide a background of support" for gold, said James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com, in a note to clients.

Traders will likely see price dips, potentially back toward $380,"as a good buying opportunity," while rallies back towards $392 to $395 will be seen as a"good profit taking area" for the moment, he said.

In the coming week, traders will look also to Tuesday's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, as well as Friday's all-important U.S. employment report, said Charles Nedoss, an analyst at Peak Trading Group.

Elsewhere Friday on Nymex, July silver closed up 25.2 cents, or 4.3 percent, at $6.09 an ounce. It's well below the month-ago close of $7.955 and down from the week-ago close of $6.18.

July copper rose 1.5 cents to close at $1.2075 per pound. It closed a week ago at $1.243 and a month ago at $1.355.

June palladium closed at $258.30 an ounce, up $12.25, while July platinum rose $13.70 to end at $794.20 an ounce. The contracts are down 11 percent and 12 percent, respectively, from a month ago.

As of late Thursday, copper supplies were down 1,907 short tons at 173,900 short tons, according to Nymex. Silver stocks were unchanged at 122.2 million troy ounces.

Gold inventories stood at 3.985 million troy ounces, down 60,033 troy ounces.

Indexes log 20% fall for the month

Key indexes for metals mining shares ended the month with losses of more than 20 percent, though trading for the session closed mixed. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index ($XAU: news, chart, profile) closed at 81.94, down 0.1 percent for the session. But it closed out last month at 104.95.

The CBOE Gold Index ($GOX: news, chart, profile) tacked on 0.3 percent to close at 70.42 -- down 21 percent from the 89.56 close on March 31.

The Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI: news, chart, profile) closed little changed at 178.78 for the session. A month ago, it closed at 235.89.

Among the index-components gaining ground in the session, shares of Apex Silver Mines (SIL: news, chart, profile) added 4 percent, and shares of Coeur d'Alene Mines (CDE: news, chart, profile) tacked on 2.4 percent.

In metals news, G.E. Nutter, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets upgraded his rating on Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold (FCX: news, chart, profile) to"outperform" from"sector perform" Friday, because of the"recent share price correction." Shares of the company climbed 68 cents, or 2.3 percent, to close at $30.50.

Myra P. Saefong is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in San Francisco.