Gold futures in New York edged up on currency-oriented buying early Thursday as traders re-established positions in the market after the dollar weakened a bit against the euro overnight, dealers said.
In other precious metals, silver appeared ready to test support levels after failing to breach resistance atop $7.10 an ounce recently.
By 10:08 am EDT (1408 GMT), December gold was up $1.50 at $443.70 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, dealing from $441.90 to $444.60.
Currencies remained the main driver for gold, despite a fit of long liquidation seen in the prior session, as the market avoided a major sell-off below $440 because the dollar lacked buyers, dealers said.
But gold in turn lacked the momentum to revisit the eight-month high in COMEX December gold at $455.30 hit early this month and the price stayed stuck in a sideways trading pattern.
"It's somewhat featureless and gold really is just still consolidating. Given that the dollar has failed to rally, there has been a little short covering in gold," said a trader at a large commercial bank.
Futures held to an inside day, meaning both the session high and low were confined within Wednesday's trading range.
Analysts put support in COMEX gold at $440 with resistance at $455.
Bullion rose to $438.70/439.40 an ounce, below the last late New York quote at $437.20/7.90. The afternoon London fix was $438.85.
"(Spot) gold is still likely to be inversely linked to dollar strength and consolidating from $435 to $440 before attempting to test higher again," said Standard Bank in a daily market note.
September silver slipped 1.7 cents to $6.905 an ounce, trading from $6.965 to $6.90. Much of the activity is rollover into December futures before September delivery period begins next week.
Spot silver eased to $6.89/92 an ounce from $6.90/93 previously. It fixed at $6.945.
In NYMEX trade, October platinum fell 40 cents to $899.50 an ounce. Spot platinum fetched $894/898.
September palladium was flat at $184.50 an ounce. Spot was likewise stable at $183/187.
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