Gold and silver rose in early trading Tuesday as Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos sat down with leaders of Greece’s three main political parties to try to hammer out an agreement on new austerity measures.

Spot gold was 0.8% higher Tuesday morning, bid at $1,733.90 per ounce with an ask price of $1,734.90. Spot gold traded as high as $1,735.70 and as low as $1,713.60. The London afternoon fixed reference price came in at $1,724, $5 per ounce higher than Monday’s price fix, according to Kitco market data.

Spot silver was showing a gain of about 0.5% an ounce, bid at $33.84 with an ask price of $33.94. The morning high as of time of writing was $33.99 and the low was $33.22. Tuesday’s reference price was set at $33.28 in the London a.m., 23 cents per ounce below Monday’s fixed reference price.

In a report titled Gold Outlook — Sharpening the bull’s horns, HSBC chief commodities analyst James Steel said the rally in gold that began in December will continue, fueled by rising eurozone government debt, ultra-low interest rates and geopolitical risks.

The ECB’s monetary easing has helped gold rise more than 10% this year. Also supportive of gold will be a growing focus on U.S. debt as the 2012 presidential election approaches, he added, as is a shift of emerging market central banks’ reserves toward gold.  Steel expects gold will average around $1,850 an ounce in 2012, moving within a $1,450-$2,050 range.

Gold bullion prices hit a two-week low of $1,711 an ounce in London morning trading, though they held at more than 3% above their level on Jan. 25 — the day news that the U.S. Federal Reserve intended to extend its near-zero interest rate policy through 2014, according to BullionVault’s London Gold Market report.

In stock exchange trading, gold and silver trusts were moving up.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was moving higher, up more than 1%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) also was showing gains of more than 1%.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was moving higher, up around 0.9%.

Gold and silver mining ETFs were showing gains as well.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was up around 0.15%.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was showing gains of around 0.4%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was up around 0.55%.

Gold mining shares were moving higher, Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) the exception.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines was showing losses of around 0.7%.
• Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) was up around 0.75%.
• Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) was up some 0.75%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was climbing around 0.65%.
• Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) was moving higher, up about 0.4%.
• Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) was up some 0.15%.
• NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) was showing gains of more than 1%.
• Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) was trading flat.

Silver mining shares were trading higher.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE) was moving higher, up around 1%.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was around 0.1% higher.
• Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) was showing gains of more than 1%.
• Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) was up around 1.4%.
• Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI) was nearly flat.

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.