Gold bounces back from two-week low, silver recovers

Gold rose on Tuesday to recover from a two-week low hit in the previous session on year-end profit-taking that sparked a broad pullback in precious metals from earlier peaks. Spot gold was up 0.7% at $4,363.79 per ounce, as of 0322 GMT, after hitting a record high of $4,549.71 on Friday. It fell to its lowest since December 17 on Monday, also its sharpest daily loss since October 21. US gold futures for February delivery were up 0.8% at $4,377.80/oz. “The earlier run was overextended in the last one week or so, which makes (the precious metals) much more vulnerable for the leveraged long positions being squeezed on the downside,” said Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst at OANDA.