Daily Gold Update

Source: MarketWatch

New York— Gold futures closed with a $20-an-ounce loss Thursday in New York as strength in the U.S. dollar and profit-taking prompted the precious metal to suffer its first loss in four trading sessions. Gold prices then rallied in electronic trading on Globex Thursday evening, after U.S. stocks spiraled to fresh five-year lows. Gold for December delivery dropped $20, or 2.2%, to end at $886.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday. Earlier, gold hit an intraday low of $885 an ounce. Other metals futures, however, finished with gains in New York. And as of 4:30 p.m. EDT Thursday, December gold was at $918.70 on Globex, up 3.6% from the day's Nymex closing level.

"Both technically and fundamentally, gold is looking as good as it has ever done and prices are set to surge in the coming months," said Mark O'Byrne, a director at Gold and Silver Investments Ltd. "There will soon be fireworks in these markets and a price surge akin to that seen in the late 1970s." Still, for the short term, Zachary Oxman, a senior trader at Wisdom Financial said he'd treat gold as "an actively traded instrument and I'd be wary of taking positions in either direction for days to weeks at a time," Oxman said. "It's just too volatile."See full story.