Gold steadied below last month's 25-year highs in Europe on Thursday and dealers said it could try to break clear in the coming days. Silver advanced to its highest for one month and approached last month's 22-year peak helped by gains in industrial metals and a strike at a silver mine.
Gold hovered around Wednesday's near-three-week high and was about $10 short of the peak of $574.60 an ounce hit on February 2. "The investors have plenty more ammunition to throw at it," said Stephen Briggs, economist at SG Corporate and Investment Banking. "The underlying interest in metals generally, and gold in particular, is still so great that you have to suspect that you are going to challenge the highs again which is $10 away."
Spot gold was quoted at $563.90/564.80 an ounce by 1620 GMT, against $563.40/564.30 late in New York on Wednesday, when it climbed to $566.50.
Gold has gained more than 30 percent over the past 12 months, lifted by worries about inflation, economic growth and global political tensions.
"The recent price consolidation ... has built a very solid base for a move higher," said Frederic Panizzutti, metals analyst at MKS Finance.
"There are good reasons to expect gold to keep its momentum on the way higher. If you look at the fundamental reasons that helped gold to move higher last year and this year, I think most of them are still in place," Panizzutti said.
Gold rose about 6 percent in just over two weeks.
Barclays Capital said in a report that recent price hikes attracted another 3.96 tonnes of gold into exchange-traded funds this week, lifting the amount of gold held by all such funds to 466.8 tonnes.
The physical sector lacked activity because of high prices as jewellers and investors waited for a price fall.
Silver traded just below its 22-year high of $9.22 an ounce in early February, following a rise in copper prices and Wednesday's worker walk-out at a huge mine in Mexico.
The strike at the giant Fresnillo silver complex in Zacatecas state supported the metal, but a report on Thursday said most striking workers at the mine in Mexico would likely return to work, a union official said.
Spot silver rose as high as $9.89/9.92 an ounce, up from $9.75/9.78 in the US market.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange ended the official ring at $4,940 a tonne, up $85 from its previous close, having touched $4,965 in electronic trading. Dealers say copper might test an all-time high of $5,100 in coming sessions.
Platinum rose to a three-week high of $1,053 an ounce before dropping to $1,050/1,054, still higher than $1,045/1,050 in New York. Palladium was down $2.50 at $293.50/297.50 an ounce.
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