New Delhi, March 17 -- Precious metals, which had shown a limited reaction to the ongoing US-Israel conflict with Iran, witnessed strong buying in Tuesday's session, largely driven by a drop in the US dollar as investors turned their attention to central bank meetings, making dollar-priced commodities more attractive for other currency holders.

The April futures contract on COMEX gold gained $47 to the day's high of $5,049 per troy ounce on 17 March, while the May silver contract on COMEX also jumped, gaining $2.08 per troy ounce to reach a day's high of $82.76 earlier in the session.

Though both gold and silver staged a strong rebound from a four-day slump, they failed to hold on to early gains as crude oil prices resumed their upward ...