Gold jumped more than 2 percent early on Monday to above $1,200 an ounce, on track for its biggest one-day rise since January as the rally had some dealers scrambling to cover short positions and the May options expiry triggered more buying. The more volatile silver market rallied 5 percent, also on track for its biggest surge since January, supported by the gold market.
Spot gold was up 2.3 percent at $1,205.38 an ounce at 12:49 pm EDT (1649 GMT), lifting it well above the prior session's five-week low. US gold futures for June delivery were up 2.6 percent at $1,205.10 an ounce.
"It's quite undervalued and we've had a long period of consolidation around the $1,200 mark," said Mark O'Byrne, research director of bullion dealer GoldCore, noting that the breach of the $1,200 level spurred additional technical buying.
O'Byrne said that while there were several factors spurring the session's rally, short-covering could be the primary driver
Options-related buying also buoyed prices with US May options set to expire at the end of the day with relatively heavy open interest at the $1,200 strike price, traders said.
The spot market jumped around $8 within a five-minute span shortly after 10 am EDT, when technical buyers lifted prices above the 50-day moving average.
Investors awaited the Federal Reserve's policy meeting statement on Wednesday, hoping for clues on the timing of a US rate increase.
Some investors are betting the Fed will wait until later this year, instead of June as previously expected, before raising rates from record lows. However, signs that policy will be tightened sooner rather than later could still pressure gold.
"Market consensus does not expect the first rate hike to be announced at this week's meeting, but (Fed) comments are likely going to be closely watched especially in light of Q1 GDP, which is also due to be released this Wednesday," UBS said in a note.
Physical gold demand in the major Asian markets was positive after last week's price fall, dealers said, with Shanghai premiums moving up toward $4 an ounce.
Spot silver was up 4.6 percent at $16.41 an ounce, while spot platinum was up 2.3 percent to $1,148.00 an ounce and palladium was up 1.3 percent at $781.22 an ounce.
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