Gold futures slipped early Tuesday and other precious metals were mixed in trade thinned by year-end vacations and a UK bullion market holiday, dealers said. A fresh all-time low in the dollar versus the euro supported gold in its recent $440 to $450 an ounce range. In silver, prices held above $7.00 an ounce and near their highest in three weeks.
"There was buying by Morgan Stanley early this morning, but volume is very thin, so anything that comes in is going to push this market," a floor broker said.
By 10:00 am EST (1500 GMT) on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for February delivery lost $1.00 to $445.20 an ounce, trading from $446.60 to $444.90.
Light liquidation weighed on gold after a report showing a US consumer confidence index reading at 102.3 for December, which was above forecasts and November's reading.
Estimated gold volume was an extremely light 2,500 contracts by 9 am Many participants were out of the market for UK public holidays on Monday and Tuesday. London bullion trade will reopen on Wednesday.
Commitments of Traders data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued after Monday's close showed the net fund long position in COMEX gold futures rose to 90,253 contracts as of December 21 from 87,794 lots a week earlier.
Spot gold slipped to $443.30/4.00 an ounce from Monday's close in New York at $444.35/5.10.
March silver rose 4.0 cents to $7.045 an ounce, trading between $6.995 and $7.075. On Monday, it touched its highest since December 10 at $7.09. Spot hit $6.99/7.02 from $6.95/99 previously.
CFTC data showed funds' net long exposure in COMEX silver fell to 37,664 lots on December 21 from 43,225 a week earlier.
NYMEX January platinum rose $1 to $876 an ounce. Spot platinum was quoted at $865/870.
March palladium fell $2 to $188 an ounce. Spot was indicated at $185/190. Floor brokers said the market was focused on rolling long positions out of January platinum.
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