COMEX gold seesawed quietly Wednesday morning after being pressured earlier by a rising dollar after the metal hit a six-month high overnight under the continued influence of currency market moves.
"It's trade selling, following the euro," said a floor broker, referring to gold's tendency to trade tick for tick with Europe's currency when other factors are absent.
December gold hit $422.20 an ounce in ACCESS electronic trade overnight, besting Friday's $421.90 peak. It was the highest traded price for the contract since April 13, when gold was retreating from 15-year highs on the first of that month.
At 10:00 am EDT (1400 GMT), the contract was up 90 cents at $420.70 an ounce, having bottomed at $418.50 in open-outcry trade in the face of a firmer dollar.
Investment funds and traders have April's $436.50 peak for the December contract firmly in focus. Bulls are counting on continued weakness in the dollar, record high oil prices and geopolitical tensions before the November US presidential elections to keep gold in favour as a safe haven.
Spot was quoted at $418.95/9.70, up from the close at $418.00/8.75. London's morning fix was $417.95.
December silver was up 13.8 cents at $7.24 an ounce, reaching its highest price since April 20 at $7.25 from a low of $7.08. That extended Tuesday's 5-percent breakout rally, which dealers attributed to technical buying and speculators seeing silver as far less overbought than gold.
Spot silver fetched $7.19/22, up from $7.05/08 at the close. The fix was at $7.15.
NYMEX January platinum was up $7.80 at $847.00 an ounce. Spot was last quoted at $842.00/846.00. December palladium was 95 cents firmer at $225.90 an ounce. Spot palladium last traded at $221.00/226.00.