Gold steadied on Wednesday as a firmer tone to the US dollar held gains in check, though silver extended gains to an 11-month peak, boosted by technical momentum and perceptions it is undervalued versus gold.
Silver prices have climbed 11 percent so far this month, helped by a break through chart resistance at its late October high on Tuesday, and is on track for its biggest monthly rise since June 2014. Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,252.96 an ounce at 2:32 pm EDT (1832 GMT), off a one-week high of $1,258.00 touched overnight. US gold futures for April delivery settled up 20 cents an ounce at $1,253.20.
"It needs a clearer indication of central bank policy and some other demand indicator," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist for US Bank Wealth Management in Seattle, about the quiet gold market, noting upcoming meetings with the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of Japan.
"We don't think we see a greater move to negative interest rate policy. It hurts the bullish case for gold at this point."
Silver exchange-traded funds tracked by Reuters, which have attracted inflows of more than 1,200 tonnes since early March, rose another 38 tonnes on Tuesday, when prices surged 4.4 percent.
Platinum was up 1.3 percent at $1,024.50, having reached its highest since August at $1,029.60 in earlier trade, while palladium was up 2.9 percent at $597.20 an ounce, after hitting a one-month high of $598.39 earlier.