Bullions add glaze after four days of drop

Gold for February delivery ended higher by $7.9 or 0.5%, to settle at $1,660.8 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday.

March silver closed higher by 40 cents, or 1.3%, at $31.18 an ounce on Tuesday, lowest level seen in two weeks.

The dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies fell by 0.2% on Tuesday.

U.S. economic data, however, were downbeat on Tuesday. The Conference Board said that January consumer confidence declined to 58.6, which fell short of the 65.1 expected by consensus. Meanwhile, the Conference Board's gauge of views on the present situation dropped to 57.3 in January from 64.6 December, the first decline since July. The percentage of consumers who said business conditions are good fell to 16.7% in January from 17.2% in December, while those saying conditions are bad rose to 27.4% from 26.3%. The rest said conditions are normal.

Separate report showed that U.S. home prices declined in November on seasonal weakness, with 10 of 20 major cities seeing lower prices, while longer-term trends showed continuing growth, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite posted a non-seasonally adjusted 0.1% decrease in November following a 0.2% decline in October. After seasonal adjustments, the 20-city home-price index rose 0.6% in November.

Traders and investors are awaiting important U.S. economic data due out later in the week. The U.S. Federal Reserve's FOMC meeting began on Tuesday and its interest rate announcement occurs on Wednesday afternoon. The fourth-quarter advance gross domestic product estimate is also expected on Wednesday. Also, the U.S. employment report is out Friday morning.

At the MCX, gold prices for February delivery closed lower by Rs 104 (0.34%) at Rs 30,234 per ten grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 30,381 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 30,215 per 10 grams during the day's trading.

At the MCX, silver prices for March delivery closed higher by Rs 144 (0.24%) at Rs 57,906/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 57,795/kg and rose to a high of Rs 58,030/Kg during the day's trading.

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