Precious Metals Eke Out Gains, XAU Climbs 0.9%

Gold and silver futures settled marginally higher on Wednesday as precious metals were buoyed by modest weakness in the U.S. dollar.

COMEX gold futures, per the February contract, finished up by $1.20, or 0.1%, at $1,660.70 per ounce.  The yellow metal reached an intra-day high of $1,668.70 this morning but pared its gains in afternoon trading.

Silver futures for March delivery at the COMEX closed with a gain of $0.14, or 0.5%, at $30.04 per ounce.  Gold’s sister precious metal climbed to as high as $30.25 this morning but also relinquished the majority of its advance as the day progressed.

Despite the tepid gains in precious metals, shares of most gold and silver companies extended their gains in afternoon trading.  The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) jumped by 0.9% to 162.01 after earlier hovering near unchanged at 160.56.

(Get rankings and price targets on every XAU component at GoldAlert Pro – http://pro.goldalert.com)

Among widely-traded stocks in the XAU, Newmont Mining (NEM) added 2.1% to $45.17 per share while IAMGOLD (IAG) tacked on 1.0% to $11.21 per share.

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Gold and silver stocks also fared better than the broader equity markets, as the S&P 500 Index remained lower by 0.5% at 1,419.98 this afternoon.