Gold prices, on Friday, December 22, held steady below a two-week high in thin pre-holiday trade on Friday amid firmer equities and a sturdy dollar, remaining on track to log a second consecutive week of gains.
Spot gold was steady at $1,267.08 an ounce at 0703 GMT, after hitting its highest since Dec. 6 at $1,268.91 in the previous session. It was up 0.95 percent for the week.
U.S. gold futures were unchanged at $1,270.40 an ounce.
“(We are seeing) normal market activity ahead of the holiday weekend. Expect some profit-taking to be seen from bargain-hunters who bought at the start of the week at the $1,254 level,” said Mun Chun Loh, director of private wealth at
The dollar edged up on Friday though it remained on track for weekly losses, while the euro slumped after Catalan vote results indicated a victory for separatists in a blow to Madrid.
“The market’s a bit flat due to the holidays and there seems to be some kind of uncertainty around,” said Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.
The U.S. Congress on Thursday averted a government shutdown just one day before federal funding was due to expire, sending Trump a bill to provide just enough money to keep agencies operating through Jan. 19.
The Moscow Exchange will launch deliverable futures for gold in 2018 in a move to further prop up bullion market liquidity, bourse chief executive Alexander Afanasiev said on Thursday.
In other precious metals, Palladium was up 0.2 percent at $1,039.50 an ounce, trading at its highest level
since February, 2001.
Silver rose 0.5 percent to $16.17 an ounce, and platinum was 0.4-percent lower at $911.50 an ounce. All three of those precious metals were on track to gain for a second week in a row.
