NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures rose Tuesday, after losing the most in nearly nine months in the previous session, as a weakening U.S. dollar raised the metal's appeal as an alternative investment.
Gold for February delivery, the most active contract, rose $8.20, or 1.1%, to $785 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. December gold futures, the front-month contract, rose $7.80, or 1%, to $782.40 an ounce.
The February contract slumped 5.2% Monday, the biggest one-day percentage loss since March, according to FactSet Research, as the confirmation that the U.S. economy was in recession triggered a fresh round of asset liquidation. Other commodities also fell, with the benchmark crude contract tumbling 9.4%.
"Given the recent rise in inter-bank cash rates and the likelihood of further risk reduction towards year-end, we expect commodities to remain vulnerable to further bouts of liquidation," wrote James Moore, a precious metals analyst at TheBullionDesk.com
In currencies trading Tuesday, the dollar index , which tracks the value of the greenback against its major rivals, fell 0.6%. See Currencies.
In gold spot trading, the London gold-fixing price -- used as a benchmark for gold for immediate delivery -- stood at $772.50 an ounce Tuesday morning, down $5.50 from Monday afternoon.
Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest gold exchange-traded fund, stood at 758.12 tons on Monday, unchanged from a day ago, according to the latest data from the fund. The SPDR Gold Trust rose 2% to $77.13.
In other metals, March silver futures rose 3.4%, to $9.70 an ounce. January platinum rose 0.3% to 812.60 an ounce and March palladium dropped 0.4% to $175 an ounce.
March copper slid 0.7% to $1.6195 a pound.
On the equities side, the Amex Gold Bugs Index , which tracks the share prices of major gold companies, rose 4.8% to 222.06.
The iShares Gold Trust exchange-traded fund added 1.8% to $77.13, while the iShares Silver Trust ETF rose 3.7% to $9.52. The Market Vectors-Gold Miners ETF advanced 8% to $24.30.
