Daily Gold Update

Source: Marketwatch

San Francisco— Gold futures ended higher Friday, recovering some of the week�s heavy losses and breaking a four-day losing streak, as fire-sale prices enticed buyers. Gold for February delivery rose $20.70 an ounce, or 1.3%, to $1,597.90 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Some bottom fishing after gold lost nearly $140 in the past four sessions was at play, said Charles Nedoss, a senior market strategist with Olympus Futures in Chicago. At the same time, however, gold lacked impetus to go above $1,600 an ounce, he said.

Gold is likely to go higher next week as the dollar is expected to lose more ground, barring any negative headlines from Europe, Nedoss added. Safe-haven continued to be absent. �In the short term, gold�s function as safe haven is in really shaky shape,� he said. In recent weeks, gold has tended to follow the broader market as with each worsening headline from Europe, investors have turned to the cash investments. �Over the past three months, the correlation of gold to euro/dollar has risen to over 50%. This is likely to have occurred as U.S. dollar strength is no longer being accompanied by inflows into physically backed gold exchange-traded funds,� said Deutsche Bank commodity strategists. See full story.