Precious metals close at four month highs

Bullions see safe-haven demand amid geopolitical concerns

Gold and silver prices ended the U.S. day session solidly up and scored four-month highs on Monday, 24 February 2014 at Comex. Gold saw increasing safe-haven demand amid geopolitical concerns. A recent string of spotty economic data also kept traders interested in the precious metal.

Gold for April delivery rose $14.40, or 1.1%, to settle at $1,338 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement level was the highest for a most-active contract in last four months.

March silver also rose 27 cents, or 1.2%, to end at $22.05 an ounce, also the highest close since late October.

The Ukrainian developments and some civil unrest and violence in Thailand are prompting increased safe-haven demand for gold.

There was a Group of 20 economic and finance ministers meeting in Sydney, Australia, during the weekend. The group laid out a plan for the major industrial economies to continue with their aggressive monetary stimulus plans, while at the same time called for the emerging countries to restructure their economies to contain inflation. The proclamation was mostly ignored by world markets.

Asian and European stock markets were pressured Monday in part on reports Chinese banks have ratcheted back lending to commercial property developers. Traders and investors have become more concerned about slowing economic growth in China the past few months. China is the world's second-largest economy and the world's largest consumer of raw commodities.

U.S. economic data for released Monday included the Chicago Fed national activity index and the Texas manufacturing outlook survey. Neither report had much of an impact on the market place.

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