Gold for February delivery rose $13 (0.8%) to settle at $1,688.8 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday. Prices rose to a high of $1,695.4 during intra day trading. Gold ended December 2012 higher by 2.1%. Gold ended 2012 with an overall yearly gain of around 7%, which marks the 12th consecutive year the yellow metal has posted yearly gains.
On Wednesday, March silver rose $0.78, or 2.6% to settle at $31.01 an ounce. Silver finished 8.3% higher for the year 2012.
Many markets worldwide, including Asian, European and U.S. stocks were cheered by U.S. lawmakers coming to agreement on the fiscal cliff matter that had been overhanging the market place for weeks. U.S. lawmakers had to reach a deal to avoid a series of tax increases and spending cuts that would have automatically gone into effect this week.
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The U.S. fiscal cliff agreement overshadowed some fresh, dour economic news coming out of the European Union overnight. The Euro zone manufacturing PMI fell to 46.1 in December from 46.2 in November, according to the Markit data company. Any reading below 50.00 shows contraction. However, look for the market place to now focus more on the European Union and its sovereign debt crisis, now that the U.S. fiscal cliff matter has been temporarily resolved.
In the currency market, the dollar index, the U.S. dollar index was firmer on Wednesday afternoon after being under pressure early on.
Among economic data expected for the day at Wall Street, the December ISM Index was reported at 50.7 from 49.5% the month before while the consensus expected the reading to come in at 50.5. Separately, November construction spending decreased by 0.3% month-over-month, against the expected increase of 0.5%.
At the MCX, gold prices for February delivery closed higher by Rs 154 (0.5%) at Rs 31,042 per ten grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 31,191 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 30,760 per 10 grams during the day's trading.
At the MCX, silver prices for March delivery closed higher by Rs 1,020 (1.8%) at Rs 58,938/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 58,016/kg and rose to a high of Rs 59,850/Kg during the day's trading.
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