Gold dipped below $970 in late Hong Kong trading on Tuesday, but that was the low for the day, as prices rose sharply to the New York open, then settled into a trading range between $980 and $985, before finishing at $981.10/oz., up $6.50. Overnight, gold is unchanged.

Platinum bottomed below $1210 late in far East trading, moved slowly higher to mid-morning, then really took off and hung onto its gains, ending at its intraday high of $1239, up $30. Overnight, platinum is trending higher.

Silver also hit its nadir in Hong Kong, at $15.45, then was off like a shot, soaring to $16 in the late morning, sold off until just past the noon hour, but then caught a second wind that carried it back over most of the lost ground as it closed at $15.96, up 37 cents. Overnight, silver has edged higher. (Click here for charts)

A banner day for platinum and silver, but only a modestly higher one for gold, which was probably disappointing since the dollar continued to fall, oil erased nearly all of its early losses, and the equities rally stalled out. The two silvery metals undoubtedly continued to benefit from their dual natures, with some looking at investment potential and others dreaming of an industrial pickup.

Gold traders are caught on a seesaw between the metal’s declining status as a safe haven if the economy really does improve, and the inflation that that improvement will likely drag in its wake.

“The week is likely to be dominated by further developments on the currency market, with the rally possibly slowing down if the dollar holds above 79-78.5” as tracked by the U.S. Dollar index, wrote Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London. The index fell as low as 78.393 yesterday.

In a technician’s view, gold “is now testing $988 resistance,” wrote Andrew Chaveriat, of BNP Paribas in New York. “If broken, next resistance is at $1,006.”

The wild card here could be geopolitical tensions, with North Korea at the head of the list. Pyongyang is clearly testing the young American president, to see how he responds to increasingly bellicose actions.

And those who placed bets that the gold/silver ratio had risen too far have been well rewarded. An ounce of gold now buys about 61.5 ounces of silver, the lowest ratio since September. That compares with almost 84.4 in October, the highest since March 1995. That reflects their respective spot price performances, with gold up 11% so far this year vs. 37% for silver.

Source: Gold Shines, but Silver, Platinum Soar