NEW YORK, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Gold and silver miners listed in New York rose sharply on Tuesday as precious metals markets rallied on an expected injection of cheap money from the European Central Bank.

Precious metals, especially gold, are seen as a hedge against inflation as central banks add liquidity to economies to boost growth. Gold prices rose 1 percent toward $1,800 an ounce, while silver rallied 4 percent to a five-month high.

The rise had an immediate knock-on effect on shares of mining companies, many of which are located outside the United States in countries such as Canada and South Africa but traded on equity markets in New York.

The ARCA Gold Bugs index, which tracks the performance of 17 of the biggest gold miners with listings in New York, rose 2.3 percent. Canada's Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold miner, rose 2.4 percent to $49.65.

On the silver side, Silvercorp Metal, rose 5.4 percent to $7.83. But there were also gains across the precious metals spectrum. Platinum Group Metals rose 2.7 percent to $1.50.

"The trend indicator on the pair (gold and silver) is solid and increasing," wrote Andre Bakhos, director of market analytics," at Lek Securities in New York.

"Whether this is indicative of a bet on the economy or not is neither here nor there, but to buy silver as a stand-alone, or to pair it versus gold is the play."

Gold rallied as the euro rose 0.5 percent versus the dollar ahead of an expected cash injection of 500 billion euros from the ECB on Wednesday. The move is seen as buying more time for policymakers to sort out the sovereign debt crisis.

The BNY Mellon index of leading American Depositary Receipts rose 0.9 percent, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 0.3 percent.

Elsewhere, Data Explorers, a financial data analysis company, pointed to high levels of short interest in the global auto industry among both new and old manufacturers.

They highlighted Hong Kong-traded BYD Co Ltd, down 1.9 percent to $6.36, and France's Peugeot SA, down 2 percent to $20.62. Both of those stocks are traded on the over-the-counter Pink Sheets in the United States.

"Hong Kong listed BYD saw short covering between December and the end of January but short interest has spiked back up recently to a six-month high of 8 percent," said Data Explorers in a note published late on Monday.

"It has not escaped people's attention that Peugeot Citroen's financial liabilities were (on Jan. 1) 999 percent larger than the value of the business."

The question for short sellers will be if a sharp rebound in automakers shares this year on the back of signs of an improving economy will be sustained, said Data Explorers.

The BNY Mellon index of leading European ADRs rose 0.6 percent, while the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares closed up 0.2 percent at 1,076.12.

Among Asian ADRs, the BNY Mellon index of leading Asian ADRs was up 1.3 percent and the BNY Mellon index of leading Latin American ADRs rose 1.5 percent. (Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by James Dalgleish)