Daily Gold Update

Source: Marketwatch

San Francisco— Gold futures fell Thursday, slipping out of record-breaking territory for the settlement after hitting an intraday record high. Gold for April delivery, the most active contract, declined $3.10, or 0.2%, to $1,434.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It had traded higher most of the session. The contract earlier traded as high as $1,448.60 an ounce, the highest intraday mark for a most-active contract. Silver posted a fresh 31-year high as investors looked at the cheaper metal to get protection from turmoil in Libya and Middle East countries, and also worried about Portugal and Europe�s continued sovereign-debt crisis. Gold settled at a record high on Wednesday, its third so far this year, finishing the day at $1,438 an ounce.

But the recent high has not brought record open interest in gold, and the rollover from the April contract to the June one underway will add to the market�s volatility, George Gero, a vice president at RBC Wealth Management, said in e-mailed comments. Despite the wobble late Thursday, gold is well supported by fundamentals at least through the first half of the year, said Tom Pawlicki, an analyst with MF Global. �The biggest driver right now is what�s going on in Europe,� he said. See full story.