Precious metals register modest gains

Gold for February delivery rose $8.8 (0.5%) to settle at $1,669.4 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday.

On Monday, March silver rose $0.70, or 2.3% to settle at $31.11 an ounce.

The major development of the day for U.S. traders on Monday was the late-afternoon speech by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to a group in Michigan. His remarks will be closely scrutinized for clues on future U.S. monetary policy decisions. Some remarks from Federal Reserve officials earlier Monday had little impact on market prices.

In overnight news, European stocks markets and the Euro currency were lifted Monday on ideas the European Union sovereign debt crisis has turned the corner toward recovery. The Paris-based OECD reported Monday that the Euro zone economic slowdown has bottomed out and that other major world economies are likely to see better growth in the coming months. Gains in European markets were limited by a weak Euro zone industrial production report Monday that showed a 0.3% decline from October to November.

In the currency market, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies rose by 0.2%.

At the MCX, gold prices for February delivery closed lower by Rs 50 (0.2%) at Rs 30,740 per ten grams. Prices rose to a high of Rs 30,840 per 10 grams and fell to a low of Rs 30,716 per 10 grams during the day's trading.

At the MCX, silver prices for March delivery closed higher by Rs 544 (0.93%) at Rs 58,743/Kg. Prices opened at Rs 58,300/kg and rose to a high of Rs 58,964/Kg during the day's trading.

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