Daily Gold Update

Source: MarketWatch

New York— Gold futures ended Tuesday's volatile session down slightly, as a firmer U.S. dollar applied downward pressure on the precious metal, but rallies in U.S. stocks helped limit losses. Gold for December delivery fell $2.40, or 0.3%, to end at $740.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The metal rose $13.20 to as high as $756.10 earlier but also fell to an intraday low of $724.10.

In currencies trading, the dollar index which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, rose 0.5%. A rising greenback tends to reduce gold's appeal as an alternative investment. Gold futures came under heavy selling pressures in recent weeks, with the benchmark contract falling in 10 out of the past 13 sessions since it closed above $900 on Oct. 8. It lost 7.3% last week. "While further falls are possible, nobody has a crystal ball," said Mark O'Byrne, executive director at Gold and Silver Investments. "Investors would be wise as ever to concentrate on the medium and long term fundamentals rather than on short term speculations." See full story.