Gold Tag Seen Softening On Asia Holidays

Gold firmed from overnight lows on Friday, lifted by short-covering in Asia and Europe, ahead of next week's holidays.

However, it looked set to struggle in its efforts to climb higher, dealers said.

Gold fixed at $291.45 in the morning, well down on Thursday afternoon's $293.80 fix, and the London close of $293.40/$293.90.

That close sounded the starting gun for a sharp sell off later on in New York which knocked $3.00 or so from the spot price as the metal's short-covering rally of the week ran into selling by producers and funds.

Renewed short covering in Asia and early in Europe on Friday brought the metal back to be last quoted at $291.35/$291.85.

 

There was a bit of short covering this morning, ahead of the Far Eastern holidays of next week. Basically, it's stuck in the middle-of-the-range. I don't see too many fireworks ahead of New York, said one London trader. But he added the usual warning about the unpredictability of trading during Friday afternoon business in New York. More significant for the next few days, he added, would be the absence of operators in the Asian markets.