Precious Metals Extend Gains, Gold Hits 3-Week High

Precious metals rose modestly Thursday morning, but built on their gains in afternoon trading.

Gold futures settled up at the COMEX by $9.70, or 0.6%, at $1,723.90 per ounce, but extended their gains in electronic trading to $1,734.90.  In doing so, the yellow metal reached its best level since October 19th, three week ago.

Silver futures followed a similar path, rising $0.49, or 1.6%, to $32.16 per ounce at the COMEX.  Subsequently in electronic trading, silver climbed to $32.36, its highest point since November 1st.

The rally in precious metals was not accompanied by weakness in the U.S. dollar, however, as the greenback held near unchanged against a basket of foreign currencies.

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Gold and silver stocks added to their gains alongside the metals, as the Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) added 1.0% to 184.16.  Notable XAU components in the black included Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM), Eldorado Gold (EGO), and Silver Wheaton (SLW).  Shares of AEM rose by 1.4% to $56.59, EGO by 3.0% to $15.27, and SLW by 1.5% to $40.73.

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