Gold ended nearly flat on Thursday as the market paused after its recent sharp rally, while a key technical-chart formation suggests momentum is turning increasing bullish. On Thursday, the metal traded in a relatively narrow $20 range, largely tracking a flat US equities market. Bullion investors held their bets after the metal's strong gains that followed new monetary stimulus by central banks around the world.
Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,767.90 an ounce by 3:58 pm EDT (1958 GMT). US COMEX gold futures for December delivery settled down $1.50 an ounce at $1,770.20, with trading volume in line with its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed. COMEX futures' open interest, which measures the total outstanding long and short contracts, rose to a one-year high at 481,999 lots as of Wednesday.
Open interest of US gold futures has gained about 25 percent in the past 30 days. Among other precious metals, silver edged up 0.1 percent at $34.60 an ounce, while spot palladium was down 0.9 percent at $660.47 an ounce. Spot platinum fell 0.6 percent to $1,622.49 an ounce.