It came as no surprise to me that both gold got sold off a bit the moment that the gold market opened in the Far East on Monday morning. But it didn’t amount to much, because shortly after 2 p.m. in Hong Kong…1:00 a.m. Monday morning N.Y. time…gold began a slow rise that continued right through the London open. This lasted until the silver fix in London (noon) before selling off about ten bucks. But as soon as floor trading opened on the Comex in New York, the price rose…then spiked to its high of the day…before it was gently capped and then got slowly sold off until the end of Globex trading at 5:15 p.m. Eastern time.

Silver followed a similar route, but it got sold off shortly before the Comex opened…with the selloff continuing until about 8:30 a.m. in New York. From there it rose in fits and starts

The late Thursday afternoon rally in gold on the Comex didn’t have much follow-through during Far East trading on Friday. However, activity picked up once London opened for business, and…with the exception of three attempted selloffs that failed…it was a solid up day through London, Comex floor trading, and the Globex electronic trading that followed. Silver’s price pattern was the same as gold’s. As I said yesterday, it was critical that both metals held support above their respective 50-day moving averages…and it’s obvious that they did. Volume yesterday was around 112,000 contracts, net of switches.

The gold ‘point & figure’ chart I posted on Thursday looks entirely different after Friday’s rally…but we ain’t out of the woods yet…as the updated P&F graph below clearly shows.

Thursday’s open interest changes in gold showed an increase of a very

Gold added about $20 to its price in Sydney trading first thing on Monday morning. This lasted right up until Hong Kong trading started a few hours later, and then went into a slow decline from there. This decline lasted through London…and then Comex trading in New York. Gold added to its gains in after-hours Globex trading.

Silver followed a similar path until New York opened. The price spike that ensued quickly got extinguished…and silver got sold off for about 50 cents right into the Comex close. From there the price recovered somewhat.

Volume in gold trading on Monday was still pretty light…but three times heavier than Friday’s volume. The HUI tacked on another 3% to the upside. Considering that the U.S. dollar came within an eyelash of gaining two full cents yesterday, I guess we should be thankful that both metals did as well as they did.

As far as changes in