Gold reclaimed $1,000 an ounce on Wednesday, rising 1.5 percent as a weaker dollar helped lift the precious metal to its best quarterly performance since early2008. Crude oil's rally and simmering geopolitical tensions inthe Middle East also supported gold.

Silver outperformed gold in the last trading session, gaining about 3 percent on COMEXcompared with 1.5 percent rise in gold.

IN FOCUS:

India's gold imports in September were provisionally around 35-40 tonnes, up from August but down by more than a quarter from 54 tonnes a year ago, the head of the Bombay Bullion Association said.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-tradedfund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings stood at 1,095.327 tonnes as of Sept. 30, up 1.22 tonnes.

Bullion has risen about 7.6 percent in the past three months while the dollar has shed more than 4 percent. After its best quarterly performance since the first quarter of last year, gold has gained around 14 percent so far this year.

The physical market is gathering some support in India as jewelry demand picks up in the run-up to the festive period, but current prices are a stumbling block.

India's gold trade remained quiet on Wednesday as most banks, the primary sellers of the yellow metal, were shut for half- year book closing, dealers said.

Thousands of workers atSouth Africa's DRDGOLDon Tuesday called on the government to revoke its license and kept up pressure on the company to raise wages, with a strike entering its third week. Mexican Silver production dropped to 236,805 kg in July, down 3.4 percent compared with a year ago.

FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK:

Precious metals may trade lower in today’s session after a sharp rise in the last trading day. However, the focus would be on economic data from the U. S. Expectations of strong manufacturing data from U. S. and Euro zoneand unchanged jobless claims numbers may enhance risk appetitefollowed by weakness indollarand some fresh buyingin this complex.