Daily Gold Update

Source: Marketwatch

San Francisco— Gold futures ended with a loss Thursday, resulting in a near-flat weekly performance, but managed to recover from session lows as rallying oil prices raised the metal�s allure as an inflation hedge. Gold for February delivery closed down $6.90, or 0.5%, at $1,380.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The loss left gold near flat with its close on Friday of $1,379.20 an ounce. Commodities markets in the U.S. closed early Thursday and are shut Friday in observance of the Christmas holiday. The precious metal had fallen as low as $1,372.60 an ounce in the New York floor session, but recovered a bit as the dollar came off its U.S. session highs and other commodities rallied.

Oil pushed above $91, the first time it�s broken through that level since Oct. 3, 2008. The dollar index fell to 80.511 from 80.781 in North American trade late Wednesday. It had started the U.S. trading session near the 80.80 level. �The dollar was kind of at the top of its range and pulled back, and crude oil was very strong,� said Charles Nedoss, senior market strategist at Olympus Futures in Chicago. �If you�re seeing an inflationary move in oil and food, that would be good for gold,� he said. See full story.