Dollar Pullback Props Up Gold

Back in the gold arena, the miners were doing well as buoyant metal prices lifted the sector. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Sector Index ended at 142.07, up nearly 2%.

"It's looks to me as though we bottomed in the gold stocks last Friday," says Mike Swanson, a Virginia-based hedge fund manager and editor of the Wall Street Window blog. He added that if the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index closed above 141.5, which it did, he would "take that as confirmation that it's put in a [technical] bottom."

Turning to the base metals, copper was getting a boost. March-dated Comex contracts closed up 3.6 cents at $2.914 a pound, benefiting from the weak dollar, although not everyone was convinced the lift will continue.

"We would not be chasing this current bounce, preferring to wait until it can prove its sustainability," writes Edward Meir, an analyst at commodity brokers Man Financial, in a daily markets brief.

Diversified miners Anglo American(AAUK Quote) and Rio Tinto(RTP Quote) both gained more than 2%, benefiting from the improved metal prices.