Gold futures in New York fell early on Thursday on fund selling as some speculators continued paring holdings due to a lack of physical demand for the yellow metal, but a bit of bank buying at the lows helped shore up prices.
By 10:37 am EST (1537 GMT), December delivery gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division was down $3.80 at $460.80 an ounce, dealing from $466.60 to $460.50.
"Investment banks were sellers on the way down, and then one turned a buyer on the lows and brought it back up," said a trader at a precious metals desk.
Dealers have noted that consumer buying was disappointingly thin this week, even with a shake-out of long positions that dropped prices substantially, and views were split as to the next clear direction after gold shot to an 18-year high last month.
Prices did edge into a firmer range, however, after dealer and spec buying previously due to a softer dollar helped trim the steep fall to about $460 on Tuesday, from $478 on Friday.
December gold hit an 18-year high at $483.10 in October.
Spot gold fell to $459.60/460.40 an ounce, below Wednesday's New York close at $462.70/3.50. Bullion dealers in London fixed the afternoon spot reference price at $461.85.
In the silver market, Asbury Research's Kosar said prices have twice failed at around $7.95 an ounce and that suggests a fall is technically probable to at least $7.12.
"Considering gold and silver's almost lock-step 92 percent positive correlation during the last 20 years, the bearish pattern on the silver chart corroborates and confirms what we are seeing in gold," he said in a note on Wednesday.
December silver slipped 2.5 cents to $7.535 an ounce, dealing from $7.62 to $7.515. The market touched a one-month low Tuesday at $7.41. Spot silver fetched $7.49/52, from $7.51/54 previously. The fix was at $7.575.
On the board at NYMEX, January platinum was flat at $941.10 an ounce, after it fell to a five-week low of $916 on Tuesday. Spot platinum touched $937/941.
Illiquid December palladium rose $2.25 to $230.90 an ounce. Spot palladium was up at $225/229.
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