CHICAGO, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose Monday, as a better-than- expected U.S. manufacturing gage and pro-QE comments from central bank official boosted trading.
The most active gold contract for December delivery went up 9.4 U.S. dollars, or 0.53 percent, to settle at 1,783.3 dollars per ounce.
After falling on Friday, gold recovered all of the previous session's losses on Monday to end moderately higher. The precious metal touched a high of 1,794 dollars per ounce before retreating back down towards the end of the trading session.
Driving gold's early rally was the morning release from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), showing the company's closely-watched manufacturing index at a three-month high. The ISM index rose to 51.5 in September from the August reading of 49. 6, above analysts' expectations.
Also supporting gold were comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke and Chicago Fed Governor Charles Evans, on the benefits of the bank's recent quantitative easing (QE) decision. In a Monday speech in Indianapolis, Bernanke defended QE from critics, while Evans also called QE a "step in the right direction" in a morning CNBC interview.
QE policies support gold, as the precious metal traditionally rises on concerns of inflation.
Outside market forces were also positive Monday, as the session saw gains in U.S. equities and crude oil, as well as a weaker dollar.
Silver for December delivery sharply rose 37.5 cents, or 1.08 percent, to close at 34.952 dollars per ounce.
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