Gold remained in the doldrums until the New York open on Wednesday, after which it perked up a bit through the rest of the day, but not to any great extent as it finished at $905.90/oz., up $5.30. Overnight, gold is sharply higher.

Except for an equal bump and retreat in the morning New York hours, platinum remained stuck in a very tight range all day, ending near the top of that range at $965/oz., up $4. Overnight, platinum has vaulted higher.

Silver was in the red until the New York open, but moved sharply upward from there to mid-morning, peaking at $12.60 before retracing its way back to a close at $12.54/oz., up 9 cents. Overnight, silver is much higher. (Click here for charts)

If gold turned in a lackluster performance on Tuesday, with the usual suspects lined up pretty much in its favor, then yesterday was the opposite, with a slight gain put in despite declines in equities and oil, and a rising dollar.

There’s no point in trying to make any short-term sense of it all. As Dan Norcini, writing on jsmineset.com, sagely commented: “Yesterday the Euro was in – today the Euro is out. Yesterday the Swiss Franc was in – today the Swiss Franc is out. Yesterday the Dollar was out – today the Dollar is in.

“Translation – more hedge fund madness.”

Of more interest was a report out of the European Central Bank stating that reserves of gold and gold receivables held by euro-zone central banks rose last week for the first time in two months.

The Eurosystem has not been a net buyer of gold since the week of November 7, 2008, but during the week ended January 30, gold and gold receivables increased by a modest 1 million euros. That reflects the net purchase of gold coins by one Eurosystem central bank, the ECB said.

And paper gold continues to soar in popularity. Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD), the largest exchange-traded gold fund, now stand at an all all-time high of 853.37 tons, an addition of almost 10 tons this week.

“Worldwide, gold is seen as a safe place to be,” said Frank Lesh, a trader at FuturePath Trading in Chicago. “It’s one of the few assets that made money last year. Everybody wonders: Where should I go with my money this year? When you look around, gold is one of the few recipients.”

Source: Precious Metals Eke Out Small Gains

Last 5 posts by Doug Casey

• Resource Stock Roundup:Monday, July 27, 2009 - July 27th, 2009
• Base Metals Higher - July 27th, 2009
• Crude Continues to Climb - July 27th, 2009
• Dollar Moves Lower - July 27th, 2009
• Gold Pushes Through $950 - July 27th, 2009