NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Strength in some foreign currencies lifted gold futures prices Thursday by prompting buying overseas, and shares of gold companies were tugged higher as well.  

February gold rose $1 to close at $264.80 an ounce on the Commodities Exchange division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. March silver rose 8.2 cents to $4.825 an ounce.  

Late Wednesday, COMEX gold warehouse stocks were flat at 1,775,330 ounces. Silver stocks were down 265,317 ounces to 93,775,371 ounces.  

Meanwhile, the price of March palladium increased $30.70 to trade at $1,030 an ounce and April platinum slipped by $15.90 to $607.60 an ounce.  

March copper added 3.4 cents to 86.15 cents a pound. London Metals Exchange warehouse stocks fell 2,450 metric tons to 360,500 metric tons as of early Thursday. Late Wednesday, COMEX stocks were up 298 short tons to 69,065 tons.  

In the equities markets, the CBOE Gold Index climbed by 2.8 percent to 32.26. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index rose 1.2 percent to 48.83.  

Individually, shares of Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM: news, msgs) added 6 cents to close at $6.19. Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold (FCX: news, msgs) climbed $1.56 to settle at $10.63 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.  

Definitions  

Tonnes (mt) : Metric ton = 1,000 kg or 32,151 ounces of fine gold.  
Import Data : Volume of gold imported into key bullion trading centres which serve as as an important supply source for gold in the region.  
Fabrication : Total volume of gold, either newly - mined or scrap, converted into the end-use products being exported.  
Trade Purchases : Total volume of gold contained in products purchased by the trade, either retail or wholesale, for ultimate sale to consumers.  
Consumer purchases : Volume or value of gold purchased by consumers in a given market. Usually measured by WGC's representative panel of retail shops or by WGC surveys of consumer buying dehaviour.