By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Gold futures rose in electronic trading Tuesday, amid rising optimism about efforts to resolve Europe’s debt crisis.
Gold for February delivery GC2G +0.65% added $9.20, or 0.6%, to $1,617.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asian trading hours.
The metal tracked gains for other commodity and equity markets on Tuesday, with investor sentiment buoyed by European leaders’ efforts to deal with the region’s debt problems. Read Asia markets
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met in Berlin on Monday, and Merkel said that there has been some progress toward implementing tougher budget rules across the euro zone. Read more on the Merkel-Sarkozy meeting.
Among other metals, March copper futures HG2H +0.78% added 1 cent, or 0.4%, to $3.43 a pound.
Silver March futures SI2H +1.35% gained 38 cents, or 1.3% to $29.16 an ounce.
Palladium for delivery in the same month PA2H +1.27% rose $8.10, or 1.3%, to $625.95 an ounce, while April platinum futures PL2J +0.41% put on $4.40, or 0.3%, to $1,434.00 an ounce.
A softer dollar lent support to the metals suite, with the dollar index DXY -0.09% , which tracks the U.S. currency against six others, falling to 80.895, from 81.001 in North American trade late Monday.
A weaker dollar tends to encourage buying in dollar-priced commodities as it makes them cheaper to holders of other currencies.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
