US gold futures held lower early Thursday in rollover-dominated trade, pressured by a firm dollar, although jitters before Sunday's Iraq presidential election supported the market, dealers said. Gold for February delivery was down $2.30 at $424.60 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division at 11:04 am EST (1604 GMT), trading between $426.20 and $424.
Players were reluctant to knock prices from a recent tight range as they focused on rolling positions in the benchmark February gold contract into next active April futures before first notice day for metal delivery on Monday.
April gold slipped $2.20 to $426.80.
Estimated volume was 30,000 lots, with 5,396 switches, at 10 am.
"It's all rollover. We're stuck in a range and $430 is monster resistance," said a COMEX floor broker.
Longer-term, gold prices are expected to rise for the fourth straight year in 2005 as dollar weakness and global security fears attract investors to the market.
A Reuters poll showed Thursday that gold should average $430 this year, up 4 percent on 2004's $413.56. But the survey of 32 analysts and senior traders saw it slipping to $413 in 2006.
Chartists peg support in COMEX gold at $420, with resistance at $430.
Spot gold fetched $424.40/5.20, below Wednesday's late New York quote at $426.50/7/00. The London afternoon fix was $424.50.
Looking to the latest US data, new orders for durable goods rose 0.6 percent in December despite a sharp plunge in demand for new aircraft, against expectations for a 0.5 percent gain.
Separately, US first-time unemployment benefits claims rose 7,000 to 325,000 last week.
In silver, the Reuters poll saw silver rising 3.3 percent from 2004's $6.29 to an average of $6.50 in 2005, falling to $6.23 in 2006.
Platinum prices should drop below $800 on a possible supply surplus, while palladium also looked weak, the poll said.
March silver fell 5.5 cents to $6.75 an ounce, dealing within a range of $6.835 to $6.725. Spot reached $6.71/74 from yesterday's late quote of $6.77/80. The fix was $6.785.
NYMEX April platinum rose 70 cents to $869.50 an ounce. Spot platinum traded to $866/870. March palladium was flat at $192 an ounce. Spot stayed at $187/191.