Bullions add gains

Bullion metal prices ended higher on Wednesday, 24 April 2013. Prices of gold and silver rose as traders and investors continued to step in to buy the recent big dip in prices. Demand for physical gold worldwide remains strong after last week's price plunge. Outside market forces were also in a bullish posture for gold and silver Wednesday, as the U.S. dollar index was weaker and crude oil prices were sharply higher.

Gold for June delivery ended higher by $14.9 (1.1%) at $1,423.7 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday.

May silver ended higher by $0.02 cents (0.1%) at $22.83 an ounce on Wednesday.

Strong demand has surfaced for physical gold (bars, coins, jewelry) in the wake of this month's collapse in prices. This is a major factor working to lift gold prices up from last week's lows and beginning to suggest a market bottom is in place. Reports this week have said there are shortages of gold bars and coins in some countries, with gold retailers jacking up their charged premiums over the spot price of gold.

German 30-year bond yields fell to a record low at a government auction Wednesday. The bond fetched an average yield of 2.16%. This underscores the still-keen European investor uncertainty regarding the overall financial and economic health of the European Union. The German Ifo business confidence index fell to 104.4 in April from 106.7 in March, suggesting the EU's largest economy is struggling. The continued weakness in the Japanese yen pushed the Nikkei stock index to a four-plus-year high on Wednesday.

In the currency market, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell by 0.3% on Wednesday.

Today's economic data at Wall Street showed that durable goods orders continued their streak of sizable up-and-down movements in March. Orders fell 5.7% after increasing a downwardly revised 4.3% (from 5.6%) in February. The consensus expected orders to fall 3.1%. The wild swings in orders over the last few months have been the result of big moves in aircraft orders. In March, total aircraft orders, defense and nondefense fell 43.5% after increasing 65.0% in February. Excluding transportation, orders fell 1.4% after dropping a downwardly revised 1.7% (from -0.7%) in February. The consensus expected these orders to remain flat.

Separate report showed that the weekly MBA Mortgage Index rose 0.2% to follow last week's increase of 4.8%.

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