Gold declined from Hong Kong through to the New York open on Wednesday, falling below $920, but as it did on Tuesday rallied from there, working its way back into positive territory and holding there to finish at $933.80/oz., up $7.70. Overnight, gold is slightly higher.

Platinum stayed within a tight $10 range all day long, but ended at the top of it, at $1121/oz., up $4. Overnight, platinum is sharply higher.

Silver tumbled as low as $13.00 as the Comex opened, but shot sharply higher by mid-morning, then held onto its gains for the rest of a sideways day, closing at $13.51/oz., up 7 cents. Overnight, silver has edged higher. (Click here for charts)

It wasn’t a very spirited day for the precious metals, but they managed to come back from early selling to all post small gains.

The usual suspects provided no sense of direction, with the price of oil slipping, the dollar edging back a bit, and equities unable to make up their minds, with a sharp late rally following a slide for most of the day.

Analysts said the price of gold rose after the dollar weakened due to remarks by Treasury Secretary Geithner with regard to a proposal by China that would replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

Geithner initially said he was “quite open” to China’s suggestion of moving toward a currency system linked to the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), a basket of dollars, euros, sterling and yen, as a super-sovereign reserve currency.

That spooked investors who envisioned massive selloffs of countries’ dollar reserves, and raised gold’s profile as the ultimate hedge against any such development.

But the rally was effectively capped as Geithner later clarified his terms, and some better-than-expected economic data were rolled out.

“Increased risk appetite following the tackling of toxic assets and surprisingly strong economic data weighed further on precious metal sentiment,” wrote James Moore, of TheBullionDesk.com.

Moore predicted that gold could remain around $900 to $965 for the time being, “with scrap sale curbing rallies while invest demand provides support.”

Source: Precious Metals Post Modest Gains