Gold up in New York

Gold rose on Monday after a steep drop last week, with some investors encouraged by signs that central banks have been buying the precious metal on dips, but technical factors suggested prices could fall further. Spot gold was up 0.6 percent on the day at $1,662.66 an ounce by 3:09 pm EST (1909 GMT). The price drop of 3 percent last week was its second biggest weekly decline of 2012.
US gold futures for April delivery settled up $11.50 at $1,667.30 an ounce. Trading volume was about 20 percent below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed. In other precious metals, silver rose 1.2 percent to $32.94 an ounce, while palladium rose 0.5 percent to $701.93 an ounce and platinum edged up 0.3 percent to $1,672.43 an ounce.