Weaker dollar fuels demand for gold

Asian Defense News: LONDON -- Gold, little changed in London Friday, may climb as a weaker dollar and the metal's drop to a three-week low prompt investors to buy. Platinum and palladium declined.
The dollar slid as much as 0.6 percent against the euro on concern a U.S. proposal to curb banks' bets with their own capital will deter investors from buying assets in the world's largest economy. Bullion, which Thursday fell to the lowest price since Dec. 30, usually moves inversely to the greenback.
“Yesterday we had a lot of pressure on gold, and overnight we've seen some physical demand,” said Afshin Nabavi, a senior vice president at bullion refiner MKS Finance SA in Geneva.
Gold for immediate delivery added US$1.55, or 0.1 percent, to US$1,095.50 an ounce at 11:04 a.m. local time. The metal is down 3.1 percent this week, headed for its biggest slide in six weeks. Bullion for February delivery was 0.7 percent lower at US$1,095.30 on the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex division.
The metal declined to US$1,096.50 an ounce in the morning “fixing” in London, used by some mining companies to sell production, from US$1,108.25 at Thursday's afternoon fixing. Spot prices are 11 percent below a record US$1,226.56 set on Dec. 3.
Among other precious metals for immediate delivery in London, silver added 0.2 percent to US$17.43 an ounce. Platinum fell as much as 3 percent to US$1,547.65 an ounce, the lowest price since Jan. 8, and was last at US$1,553.90. Palladium dropped as much as 4.5 percent to a one-week low of US$431 an ounce and was last at US$435.25.