WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures closed at their highest level in a week Thursday, as silver stood out from the pack in a broad-based rally in metals trading.
Gold for April delivery added $4.20, or 1 percent, to end at $418.70 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Thursday's intraday high saw gold reach the $420.10 level. A week ago, the gold contract ended at $418.50.
Metals traders interpreted mixed moves by the dollar against the other major global currencies as reason to step up and buy gold in the belief that the greenback would falter.
The dollar failed to hold early gains in the face of mostly positive data reported by the U.S. government on the nation's trade deficit and on weekly jobless claims. See Currencies.
"The gold market is really beginning to show signs of life," said Dale Doelling, chief market technician of Trends in Commodities.
Meanwhile, March silver rallied 5.7 percent, adding 37.5 cents to close at $6.965 an ounce.
Also on Nymex, March copper rose 3.8 cents to a close at $1.425 a pound, while April platinum rose $18 to end at $869.30 an ounce and March palladium moved up $2.25 to finish out the session at $182.25 an ounce.
Inventories for gold, silver and copper were all lower, according to the latest Nymex data. Gold stood at 5.92 million troy ounces as of late Wednesday, down 31,809 troy ounces, while silver dropped by 315,571 troy ounces to 10.2 million troy ounces and copper fell 199 short tons to 45,618 short tons.
Playing off the action in the metals pits, benchmarks tracking mining stocks remained sharply higher in afternoon action, extending Wednesday's advance.
The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index XAU, -3.26% stood at 93.15 points, up 3.9 percent, while the CBOE Gold Index GOX, -0.56% reached 83.62, up 4.2 percent, and the Amex Gold Bugs Index HUI, -3.19% climbed to 203.88, up 4.3 percent.
Among individual issues, Goldcorp GG, -2.70% was squarely in the spotlight, after a majority of Goldcorp shareholders voted to approve the company's merger with fellow Canadian miner Wheaton River Minerals WHT, +5.12% Glamis Gold GLG, +0.00% had stepped in with a hostile offer to acquire Goldcorp via a stock swap.
Glamis said it would let its Goldcorp offer expire in the aftermath of the vote on the Wheaton River transaction. See full story.
Goldcorp's shares closed down 17 cents to $13.57, while Wheaton River added 10 cents to $3.20.
The big winner of the three was Glamis, shares of which added 75 cents to $17.78.
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