5:00AM Gold advanced on Wednesday, supported by stronger oil futures.
The most-traded February gold contract gained 70 cents to end at $632.40 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the most-active March silver closed 6.5 cents down at $13.915 after probing a high of $13.98. January platinum finished lower at $1,107.80 an ounce, down $7.20. March palladium dipped $1.20 to close at $329.70 an ounce and March copper slipped 6.15 cents to end at $3.0330 per pound.

The January crude oil added 35 cents to to end at $61.37 a barrel and the January heating oil contract rose 0.96 cent to $1.7320 a gallon. Unleaded gasoline for January delivery climbed 2.24 cents to $1.6174 a gallon. January natural gas advanced 24.3 cents to close at $7.673 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, March Arabica coffee futures gained 1.10 cents to end at $1.2885 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for March lost 0.05 cent to finish at 11.32 cents a pound.