Gold Climbs Further Off Recent Lows

(RTTNews) - Extending the rebound seen in the previous session, the price of gold saw further upside over the course of the trading day on Tuesday.

After rising $7.80 or 0.9 percent to $1,824.90 an ounce on Monday, gold for April delivery climbed $11.80 or 0.7 percent to $1,836.70 an ounce.

With the increase on the day, the price of gold continued to regain ground after hitting its lowest closing level in two months last Friday.

The precious metal benefited from early weakness in the value of the U.S. dollar, although the U.S. dollar index has inched higher over the course of the day.

In U.S. economic news, MNI Indicators released a report showing Chicago-area business activity unexpectedly contracted at a slightly faster rate in the month of February.

MNI Indicators said its Chicago business barometer edged down to 43.6 in February from 44.3 in January, with a reading below 50 indicating a contraction. Economists had expected the Chicago business barometer to inch up to 45.0.

A separate report released by the Conference Board showed U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly decreased for the second consecutive month in February.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index slid to 102.9 in February from a downwardly revised 106.0 in January.

The continued decrease surprised economists, who had expected the consumer confidence index to inch up to 108.5 from the 107.1 originally reported for the previous month.