Gold rose on Monday, boosted by a report of strong Chinese imports data and after a Federal Reserve official stated that there would be no recent interest rate hikes. While Crude-oil futures lost their early gains as traders keyed on forecasts for warmer temperatures.

James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, told a conference in Shanghai that U.S. interest rates may well remain low, easing concerns that the central bank could hike interest rates sooner than financial markets had been anticipating, a news which pressures the dollar.

The dollar index which tracks the greenback’s performance against a basket of other major currencies fell 0.8% to 76.893 in recent trading.

Gold for February delivery ended at $1,151.40 an ounce, up $12.50, or 1.1%, on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Compared to last Friday, when gold futures posted modest gains on the Comex, finishing the week 3.9% higher.

Among other metals, March silver rose 23 cents, or 1.2%, to $18.70 an ounce. Copper for March delivery rose 4 cents to $3.44 a pound.

Oil and gold had both received early support from a report showing a jump in Chinese oil and iron-ore demand last month.

“The positive economic news out of China following the poor U.S. jobs number on Friday led to a surge in the oil and commodity prices and a fall in the dollar, and this led to gold’s strength,” analysts at GoldCore said in a note.

Gold prices still found support as the dollar remained weak against most major currencies. The precious metal and the greenback have had a strong inverse correlation: When the dollar declines in the value, gold prices tend to rise.

Commodities also received a big boost from Chinese trade data earlier. The Chinese trade report has proved that China’s import and export numbers smashed expectations. The Chinese data was further evidence that the global economic recovery is gaining momentum.