Precious metals futures climbed on Thursday as the dollar turned broadly lower and signs of long-term currency weakness spurred fresh buying of bullion as a hedge against the depreciating greenback.

Gold futures rose by more than $7 an ounce, ending the day at $962 an ounce. Silver climbed by 1.58 percent and 1.12 percent on MCX and COMEX respectively.

Central banks may be justified in increasing their gold holdings to 40-50 percent of their reserves, a senior executive of the industry-funded World Gold Council said on Thursday.

On the supply side, mine output from South Africa fell 13 percent in volume terms in April from a year before, official data showed.

Gold buying in the world's largest bullion consumer, India, remained slow on Thursday, with dealers unwilling to make fresh purchases as the wedding season nears its end.

Gold prices are expected to trade sideways to up following the weakness in dollar and strength in crude oil prices. Silver is expected to outperform Gold during the day in terms of percentage wise return. We recommend buying silver at dips for the day.