Talk of extending the Bush tax cuts, gains in the U.S. grain market and higher energy prices helped gold and silver prices along Monday.

Gold futures finished 0.6% higher at the end of Monday’s trading with a final bid of $1,590.20 per ounce, according to CME Group data. Gold reached a high of $1,593 and a low of $1,576. Results were up despite news that Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) cut its gold forecast for 2012.

Silver futures finished the day about 0.2% higher with a final bid of $27.42. Monday’s high for silver prices reached $27.42, and the low was $26.90.

Gold bullion ended at $1,590 per ounce for Monday’s trading session in London, according to BullionVault.

“The market is trying to decide whether to continue the down move below $1500 or recover back above $1640 towards $1750,” according to technical analysis from bullion bank Scotia Mocatta.

Gold and silver trusts experienced slight gains Monday.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) ticked up about 0.2%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was about 0.3% higher.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was up about 0.8%.

Movement in gold and silver mining ETFs was down slightly.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) fell around 0.4%.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was about 0.4% lower.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) tripped about 0.4%.

Gold mining shares showed losses almost across the board Monday.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) dropped about 0.3%.
• Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) was down about 0.6%.
• Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) showed losses of around 0.8%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was up about 0.4%.
• Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) edged up just 0.1%.
• Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) showed losses of 0.4%.
• NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) was flat.
• Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) was about 1% lower.

Most silver mining shares slid heavily Thursday.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE) slid about 1.7%.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) dropped about 1.9%.
• Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) showed sharp losses of around 4.8%.
• Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) dipped around 1.2%.
• Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI) was down about 0.7%.

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