Gold was showing small gains, and silver was giving back some of yesterday’s strong rise Wednesday morning as the Commerce Dept. reported a less-than-expected increase in new manufacturing orders for November following two consecutive monthly declines.

New orders for manufactured goods increased $8.2 billion, 1.8% month-to-month, to $459.2 billion overall, the Commerce Dept. reported, and 0.3% excluding transportation. Shipments rose for the sixth consecutive month, up $100 million to $455 billion. Unfilled order increased $11.1 billion, or 1.3%, to $898.3 billion, the 19th increase in the last 20 months.

Spot gold was trading 0.16% higher at 10:40 a.m. Wednesday, with a bid price of $1,603 and an ask price of $1,613. Spot gold traded as high as $1,615.80 and as low as $1,592.50. The London afternoon reference price fix came in at $1,613, $15 higher than Tuesday’s price fix, according to Kitco market data.

Spot silver was down more than 1.5%, bid at $29.25 an ounce with an ask price of $29.35. The morning high as of time of writing was $29.67, and the low was $28.84. Wednesday’s reference price was set at $29.18 in the London a.m., 40 cents an ounce above Tuesday’s price fix.

Gold bullion had slipped below the $1,600-an-ounce level in London morning trading, having earlier reached $1,612, its highest level since before Christmas, BullionVault reported in its Wednesday London Gold Market Report.

A technical analyst at bullion dealer Scotia Mocatta sees another potential downward move ahead. “Key [gold price ] resistance…lies at the $1,630 level which represents the 200 day moving average…. We believe that while the 200-day moving average holds, the risk remains for another visit to the $1,523 area,” Russel Browne was quoted as saying.

On the exchanges, gold trusts were higher, but the iShares Silver Trust was moving lower.

•  The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was showing gains of around 0.5%.
•  The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was up some 0.5%.
•  The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was down more than 0.6%.

The junior gold mining ETF was showing small gains, though the major gold and silver mining ETFs were losing ground.

•  The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was around 0.2% lower.
•  The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) barely higher, up some 0.05%.
•  The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was around 0.9% lower.

Gold mining shares were broadly lower, with Barrick Gold the exception.

•  Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) was showing losses of more than 1.2%.
•  Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) was up more than 1.2%.
•  Eldorado Gold (TSE:ELD) was nearly 0.4% lower.
•  Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was some 0.8% lower.
•  Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) was down more than 0.5%.
•  NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) was more than 1.4% lower.

Silver mining shares were mostly lower, with Coeur d’Alene Mines and Hecla Mining bucking the trend.

•  Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE) was moving higher, up more than 0.4%.
•  Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was up more than 2.2%.
•  Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) was between 0.75% and 1% lower.
•  Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) was showing losses of around 1%.
•  Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI) was down between 1% and 1.2%.

As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault contributed to this report.