Gold and silver were higher to open the week’s trading Monday morning. U.S. homebuilder confidence for newly built, single-family houses came in a bit weaker than expected, and things were relatively quiet on the European debt news front. Spot gold was up 0.17% as of 10:50 a.m., having traded as high as 1,664.70 and as low as 1,651.90, according to Kitco market data. The London morning reference price was fixed at $1,654, $4 an ounce lower than Friday’s afternoon reference price.

Spot silver was showing a 0.80% gain, bid at $32.82 with an ask price of $32.92. The morning high as of time of writing was $32.99 and the low was $32.27. Monday’s reference price was set at $32.44 in the London a.m., 17 cents an ounce above Friday’s reference price.

News regarding U.S. housing is coming out today and tomorrow, but Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL) decision to institute a $2.65-a-share quarterly dividend and $10 billion share buyback was the main focus of financial news Monday morning. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), which measures builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes, was unchanged in March, from a revised level of 28, less than the analyst’s consensus of a rise to 31. March’s figure ends a string of five consecutive monthly gains. The U.S. Census Bureau will report on February housing starts and building permits tomorrow.

In Europe, demand for bonds issued by the European Financial Stability Facility exceeded 4.5 billion euros ($5.85 billion), far more than the 1.5 billion euros ($1.95 billion) the EU’s bank stabilization fund intended to raise. Yields for the first-ever 20-year EFSF bond issue tightened from 120 basis points (bps) to 115 bps over equivalent mid-swap rates in gray-market trading, Reuters reported.

Gold bullion prices held above $1,650 an ounce, 4% down on the month to date, according to BullionVault’s London Gold Market report. “The market feels a bit top-heavy, which may imply a further correction on the downside to $1,600,” Swiss precious metals refiner MKS cautioned in its latest research note.

In U.S. stock exchange trading, gold and silver trusts were moving higher.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was moving higher, up around 0.25%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was up nearly 0.2%.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was up more than 1%.

The major gold- and silver-mining ETFs were up, while the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF was down slightly.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was showing gains of around 0.6%.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was showing small losses around 0.05%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was moving higher, up some 0.8%.

Gold-mining shares were broadly higher, with Agnico-Eagle Mines and Yamana Gold as the exceptions.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) was showing losses around 0.15%.
• Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) was up between 0.3% and 0.45%.
• Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) was up around 0.35%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was higher, up between 0.3% and more than 0.6%.
• Kinross Gold Corp. USA (NYSE:KGC) was up around 1.8%.
• Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) was up nearly 0.7%.
• NovaGold Resources (NYSEAMEX:NG) was up more than 1.1%.
• Yamana Gold (USA) (NYSE:AUY) was down less than 0.1%.

Silver-mining shares were sharply higher, with Silver Standard Resources showing the greatest morning gains.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE) was sharply higher, up around 2%.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was up nearly 2%.
• Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) was showing gains of nearly 1.7%.
• Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) was up around 0.9%.
• Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI) was more than 3% higher.

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.