Moderate gains for bullions

Traders mulled the timing of a pullback in the Federal Reserve's bond-buying program

Bullion prices ended moderately higher at Comex on Monday, 09 December 2013. Gold futures settled a bit higher on Monday, rebounding after losses over the past two trading sessions, as traders mulled the timing of a pullback in the Federal Reserve's bond-buying program following the latest comments from central bank officials.

Gold for February delivery tacked on $5.20, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,234.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

March silver closed up 18 cents, or 0.9%, at $19.70 an ounce.

Traders and investors are already looking forward to next week's meeting (December 17-18) of the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee (FOMC). Recent upbeat U.S. economic data, including a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report on Friday, suggests the Fed might move up its timeline for implementing a tapering of its monthly bond-buying program, also called quantitative easing, including some who think the Fed will announce a tapering at next week's FOMC meeting.

The central bank's bond-buying program, also known as quantitative easing, has helped support gold prices. The program contributed to a weaker dollar, which in turn buoyed prices for dollar-denominated gold.

In overnight news from the European Union, German industrial production showed a surprising decline of 1.2% in October from September. This was well short of market place expectations of a rise of 0.8%. Greece's GDP contracted by 3.0% in the third quarter, on an annualized basis. After six years of contraction, Greece's GDP is forecast to rise just a bit in 2014.

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