Precious Metals Hold Gains, XAU Rises 2.7%

Gold and silver futures maintained the majority of their gains Thursday afternoon as precious metals rebounded from losses earlier this week.

COMEX gold for December delivery settled higher by $11.40, or 0.7%, at $1,713.00 per ounce while December silver futures on the COMEX finished up by $0.46, or 1.5%, at $32.08 per ounce.

The rally in precious metals was not deterred by further strength in the U.S. dollar, which rose 0.2% against a composite of the world’s most-traded currencies.

Gold and silver stocks posted strong gains as well, with the Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) jumping 2.7% to 184.14.  The advance marked the XAU’s best day in three weeks, when it rose 2.9% on October 4th.

(Go to GoldAlert Pro at http://pro.goldalert.com to see analysis and rankings of precious metals and every company in the XAU)

The best performing XAU component on Thursday was Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM), which surged $4.72, or 9.1%, to $56.36 per share.  The rally in AEM was fueled by the company’s third quarter earnings results, which came in far above analysts’ estimate.

Goldcorp (GG) also delivered a stellar earnings report and climbed $2.76, or 6.7%, to $43.83 per share.

Other notable advancers included Yamana Gold (AUY) and Silver Wheaton (SLW) – which rose by 2.6% to $18.86 and by 4.4% to $39.07 per share, respectively.