FXStreet.com

Short covering and bargain hunting on Monday enabled gold and silver futuresto recoup a portion of their heavy sell-offs from late last week. August gold rose $8.70 to $659 an ounce on the Comex division of the New YorkMercantile Exchange. As pit trade was closing, the August contract at theChicago Board of Trade was up $8.20 to $658.80. Comex July silver rose 23.5 cents to $13.275. As it was closing, CBOT Julysilver was up 25.6 cents to $13.283. This comes after Comex August gold fell $14.90 Friday and July silver fell 44cents. "In gold, it was short covering and bargain hunting," said one trader. "Wehad two sharp sell-offs on Thursday and Friday. Gold came right down to supportareas that were established in early March." August gold has bounced from a three-month low of $647.80 on Friday that, fornow at least, roughly forms a double-bottom with the $647.20 low from March 5.During the course of the day, several traders said last week's pullbackresulted in some physical demand re-emerging in India and other Asian nations.One added the stronger tone in crude oil - with July crude up roughly $1 abarrel late in the gold session - also underpinned the metals. July silver bounced with gold, as base and precious metals generally tendedto rise together, the trader said. "They're all moving in tandem. There was fairly well-rounded liquidation lastweek. So you're seeing fairly rounded short covering and bargain hunting." July silver had bottomed Friday at $12.97, holding in a band of support thetrader put from roughly $12.70 to $13. "We've been in a range for months on end, and we're just at the lower end ofit," the trader said. He puts the metal in a wide band of roughly $12.50 to$14.50 from the last several months.