Gold for February delivery rose $22.5 (1.4%) to settle at $1,678 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday.
On Thursday, March silver rose $0.67, or 2.2% to settle at $30.92 an ounce.
The market place has been quieter this week amid the lack of major, fresh fundamental news developments. Traders and investors are wondering what the next moves will be by U.S. lawmakers and the Obama administration regarding taxing and spending measures. Most look for a big fight among the politicians, which is keeping a lot of speculative and investment money on the sidelines at present. Traders were awaiting Thursday's monthly European Central Bank meeting. Asian traders were awaiting a fresh batch of Chinese economic data due out later this week and during the weekend.
The U.S. dollar index was lower on Thursday. In the currency market, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies fell by 0.8%.
Upbeat comments coming from European Central Bank President Mario Drahgi at his monthly press conference, regarding the European Union's economic and financial prospects, put strong downside price pressure on the U.S. dollar and rallied the Euro currency on Thursday. That, in turn, gave an added boost to the metals markets, which were already sporting modest gains earlier on Thursday morning. A downbeat U.S. weekly jobless claims report issued on Thursday morning also supported the metals and pressured the greenback.
European stock markets were supported and the Euro currency rallied following a successful Spanish bond auction that produced yields that were the lowest in almost a year. European traders were awaiting Thursday's monthly European Central Bank meeting. The ECB did not make any major moves on interest rates, as expected. The Bank of England left its monetary policy unchanged at its meeting on Thursday, as expected.
Latest data at Wall Street showed that in the U.S., jobless claims rose by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 371,000 in the week ended 5 January 2012. Market had forecast a fall to 365,000.
China data showed a surge in exports of 14.1% for December, well above expectations of a 4.6% increase, while imports picked up 6%, up from zero growth seen the previous month. The solid improvement in shipments helped widen the trade surplus to $31.6 billion in December.
Deutsche Bank joined other institutions that have cut their outlooks on gold prices, revising lower its 2013 and 2014 forecasts earlier this week. Deutsche Bank reduced its average gold forecast for this year by 12.1% to $1,856 an ounce, as well as by 5% to $1,900 an ounce for 2014. Deutsche Bank also cut its price outlook for silver, by 16.8% to $37 an ounce for 2013 and by 5% to $38 for 2014.
The shine of last week's temporary U.S. fiscal cliff agreement by U.S. lawmakers has quickly faded. The market place is now looking forward with trepidation to the upcoming negotiations between the U.S. Congress and the Obama administration on budget and spending matters. Such is likely to limit trader and investor participation in many markets in the coming weeks.
At the MCX, gold prices for February delivery closed higher by Rs 142 (0.5%) at Rs 30,936 per ten grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 30,950 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 30,721 per 10 grams during the day's trading.
At the MCX, silver prices for March delivery closed higher by Rs 710 (1.2%) at Rs 58,680/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 58,064/kg and rose to a high of Rs 58,730/Kg during the day's trading.
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