CHICAGO, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange ended slightly higher on Tuesday as stock markets continued to rise on bullish consumer confidence. Silver and platinum both dropped.

The most active gold contract for February delivery gained 2.60 U.S. dollars, or 0.2 percent, to finish at 1,098.30 dollars an ounce.

The U.S. dollar climbed sharply overnight after a slew of negative economic events drove traders to the safety of the Greenback, dragging the precious metal down to as low as 1,085.20 dollars.

Americans' confidence in the economy improved modestly in January for the third straight month. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index increased to the highest level of 55.9 in more than a year, well above economists' expectations of 53.9.

The strong data encouraged the stock markets to rally for the second session. The Dow industrials gained about 70 points by the end of gold floor trading time. This helped the yellow metal recovered from the intraday low and managed to end higher.

Recently gold is more like a high-risk asset to investors than a hedge or safe-haven since the precious metal touched a record high and dollar played the main role of storing value.

March silver was down 28.5 cents to 16.86 dollars per ounce. April platinum slid 14.80 dollars to 1,531.30 dollars an ounce.