US gold futures moved up on Monday, but was constrained in a moderate range, capped on the upside by a firm dollar and underpinned by a gain in oil prices, traders said. February gold pushed up $12.10, or 1.44 percent, to $849.50 an ounce on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange at 9:43 am EST (1443 GMT).
February set an inside range between $836.70 and $853 an ounce. Gold climbed early when the dollar lost ground against the euro, but gave back some gains when the dollar renewed its strength against the yen, traders said. The dollar rose against the yen after the Bank of Japan followed last week's interest rate cut with a warning about the Japanese economy.
Doubts about the ability of a bailout package for US automakers to help the economy out of recession also hit dollar/euro, but propped up gold as a safety play, traders said. Rallying crude oil prices provided a boost to gold, traders said. Comex saw gold turnover at 25,054 lots by 9:00 am EST. Spot gold rose to $848.70 an ounce from $836.75 an ounce in late Friday business.
March silver gained 10.0 cents, or 0.92 percent, to $10.95 an ounce, following gold higher. March traded in a band between $10.83 to $11.09. Spot silver moved up to $10.89 an ounce from $10.82 an ounce in late Friday trade. Nymex January platinum was $10.20 higher at $861.50 an ounce.
Spot platinum advanced to $853 from $846.50 an ounce by late Friday. March palladium edged up 0.05 cents to $178 an ounce. Palladium was also helped from last week's news of the US automaker's loan. The metal is also used in autocatalysts. Spot palladium was at $174, lower than $175.50 by late Friday.
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