Gold futures softened but held above a prior near three-week low early Thursday in extremely light trading before an early close and Friday's holiday to mark the New Year. A steady dollar kept gold just below unchanged, with dealer buying supporting the metal at lower prices after year-end fund long liquidation on Wednesday shoved it as low as $434.40, traders said.
"It's very quiet and there's no real follow-through liquidation," said one gold desk dealer. "It seems there isn't anyone in the market with the early close today."
Trading sources have said the tsunamis that killed at least 120,000 people across the Indian Ocean coastline from Indonesia to Africa had sparked only limited safe-haven buying this week because investors, especially those in earthquake-prone Japan, were already on holiday.
Gold is used for investment for future sales in times of trouble as well as for jewellery and adornment.
By 9:50 am EST (1450 GMT) on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for February delivery eased 30 cents to $436.70 an ounce, within a range of $437.90 to $434.70.
New York metals will close early at around noon and stay shut on Friday in observance of New Year's Day, which falls on a Saturday this year. The Tokyo Commodity Exchange is closed until January 4.
Funds chased gold futures to a 16-year high at $458.70 early this month as the dollar fell on worries about economic growth and ballooning US current account and budget deficits.
Chartists view support in COMEX gold at $435 and then at $432.90, with resistance seen looming at $443.
Spot gold fetched $435.10/5.60 an ounce, down slightly from $435.30/6.05 at the previous New York close. Thursday's early fix in London was at $435.15.
March silver rose 0.8 cent to $6.835 an ounce, trading $6.80 to $6.87. Spot was up at $6.79/82 from $6.77/6.80 previously.
NYMEX front-month January platinum slid 50 cents to $862 an ounce. Next active April futures were flat at $860. Spot reached $857/861.
Illiquid March palladium inched down 65 cents to $185 an ounce. Spot traded to $183/187.
Comments
Comments are closed.