Gold futures for August delivery rose a dime to $1,191.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. September copper added 10 cents to $3.09 a pound. Gold had dipped in the red earlier, and has spent most of the week trading within a close range and unable to rise above $1,200 for the past four sessions. Futures closed 0.8% higher on Tuesday, rebounding after ending at its weakest close since May 21. Wednesday's range-bound trading was to be expected following Tuesday's reversal, said Scott Meyers, a senior trading analyst with Pioneer Futures division of MF Global. "We see a little bit of follow-through to the upside, but with very little volume," Meyers said. "It's meandering [ahead of Bernanke's testimony]; you got to wait to see how this whole thing will play out." TODAY'S TOP MARKET STORIES S&P 500 (1 YEAR) 1,3001,2001,1001,000900 10SNFAJ • Market Snapshot: U.S. stocks in focus • Today's biggest advancing, declining stocks • Sign up for free, breaking-news email alerts EARNINGS WATCH | Earnings, updates, warnings THE MARKET BY SECTOR | Industries • Tech Stocks | Energy Stocks | Retail Stocks • Financials | Airline Stocks | Pharma and Biotech EXPANDED MARKETS NEWS • Bonds | Oil news | Gold news • Currencies | Market Data | Economic Calendar • See all the latest markets video Bernanke's prepared statements on economic and monetary policy before Congress were released shortly after gold's floor trading close. Bernanke said the Fed is prepared to take more action if needed and that economic outlook is "unusually uncertain." Meanwhile, other metals posted stronger gains. September silver rose 11 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $17.80 an ounce. Platinum for October delivery gained $12, or 0.8%, to $1,529.80 an ounce. Copper's rise followed better housing figures earlier this week "and some buying continued" at more than $3 a pound, George Gero, a vice president with RBC Capital, said in emailed comments. It was copper's return to the $3 a pound level since last week. Gold investors are also waiting to hear the results of European banks' stress tests to be released Friday. "Publication of the stress tests on European banks could change the sentiment of market players again," said Eugen Weinberg, an analyst at Commerzbank in a note Wednesday. "Should the results prove worse than feared, the demand for gold as a 'safe haven' could pick up again." Meanwhile, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX 66.06, +1.74, +2.71%) rallied 3.5%. The miner, the world's biggest publicly traded copper mining company, reported strong second-quarter earnings, topping analysts' expectations. SPDR Gold Trust (GLD 115.85, -0.80, -0.69%) , the largest exchange-traded fund backed by gold, was essentially flat. Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch. April Lee is a MarketWatch Reporter based in New York.

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