Gold Bulls Display Mettle

Gold is also often purchased as a safe haven by investors during times of economic uncertainty.

The CPI data will likely also be bullish for the greenback because it reduces the near-term chances that the Fed will cut interest rates.

One dollar was recently buying 121.01 yen, up from 119.99 yen in the prior session. One euro was buying $1.313, down from $1.3139 previously. Gold tends to trade in the opposite direction to that of the U.S. currency.

Meanwhile, turning back to gold, the outlook from chart-watchers remains optimistic.

"We are at the upper end of resistance, and that gives a more positive shorter-term technical picture," says Adolfo Rueda, an analyst at Natexis Bleichroeder in New York. He notes that prices are above their moving averages, which in turn are still trending upward. He believes prices could surpass last year's multidecade high of $725.75 in short order, now that resistance at around $675 has been broken.

In the official sector, the European Central Bank says it sold 90 million euros of gold and receivables last week, or about 5.5 tons.

As for the action in the precious metals patch, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Gold Index was lifting 3.7%, pulled up in part by shares of component company Agnico-Eagle Mines(AEM Quote), which rose 5.1%. Shares of Kinross Gold(KGC Quote), also part of the index, were rising 4% recently.