Gold rises amid light holiday trading

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange went up amid light holiday trading Friday, ending the week with a slight gain of 0.9 percent. The most active gold contract for February delivery climbed 1.7 dollars, or 0.14 percent, to settle at 1,214 dollars per ounce. Gold has fluctuated within a narrow trading range recently. The current situation is: the investor demand is low as economic performance improves while the consumer demand is high as bargain prices have occurred constantly. With the Federal Reserve ready to scale back its stimulus policies, market analysts are not optimistic about the outlook of gold in 2014. Some even predicted gold may go below 1,100 dollars per ounce in January. Factors of bullish stock markets, raised expectations for economic growth and continued normalization of interest rates all point to dampen gold next year. Silver for March delivery gained 13.3 cents, or 0.67 percent, to close at 20.049 dollars per ounce. Platinum for April delivery climbed 15.1 dollars, or 1.11 percent, to close at 1,378.9 dollars per ounce.