Strong safe-haven demand for gold sent the precious metal...

Strong safe-haven demand for gold sent the precious metal soaring to a 12-month high above $1,260.00 Thursday. Another big sell off in world stock markets sent investors and traders scrambling into the gold market. There are growing concerns about the collective health of the major world economies. Gold prices have risen around 15% the past six weeks. April Comex gold was last up $54.00 at $1,248.60 an ounce. March Comex silver was last up $0.523 at $15.81 an ounce.

March silver futures prices closed nearer the session high today and hit another 3.5-month high today. The silver market bulls have the firm overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a four-week-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. Silver bulls’ next upside price breakout objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the October high of $16.41 an ounce. The next downside price breakout objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $15.00. First resistance is seen at $16.00 and then at $16.25. Next support is seen at $15.48 and then at today’s low of $15.285.