Gold prices near $1504 in Asia

Gold advanced further in Asian trade Monday while Silver rebounded from last week’s plunge as the dollar dropped while bulk buying by some investors also helped. Spot gold was seen trading at $1,503.91 an ounce at 1.30pm Singapore time after reached a high of $1,504.80 an ounce in early trade while silver was seen trading at $36.14 an ounce after hitting as high as $36.31 in earlier trade. The white metal climbed nearly 3% Monday as investors took advantage of last week's free fall in prices to enter the market. Silver plunged 27% in the previous week, its biggest weekly drop since 1980. Meanwhile, the dollar index a measure of the greenback's strength against a basket of currencies, edged down 0.4%, from a 2-1/2-week high hit on Friday following unexpectedly strong US. The euro strengthened to $1.4381 as of 6:45 a.m. in London from $1.4316 in New York on May 6, when it touched $1.4311, the lowest since April 19. The shared currency gained to 115.95 yen from 115.44, after touching 114.99 in early trading, the weakest since March 29. On Friday, Gold for June delivery rose $10.20, or 0.7%, to $1,491.60 an ounce. July silver declined 95 cents, or 2.6%, to settle at $35.29 an ounce.