• Spot gold dropped 1 percent to $1,251.11 an ounce by 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT), bouncing off a four-month low of $1,250.51. U.S. gold futures for February delivery settled down $13, 1 percent, at $1,253.10 per ounce.
• Gold broke out of its recent trading range this week after slipping below its $1,267 200-day moving average. Since mid-October, prices had stayed between $1,265 and $1,300 an ounce as investors poured money into the stock market, which hit a series of record highs.
• The stock market gains dicouraged gold buying, as did expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise U.S. interest rates this month.
• "From a technical point of view, many traders had stop-losses just below $1,262, and today the market is going down for this reason," said ActivTrades chief analyst Carlo Alberto de Casa.
• A stronger U.S. dollar also sparked selling of gold, he said. The dollar touched a two-week high on Thursday on optimism the United States would push through a Republican tax package by a Dec. 22 deadline. Financial markets will watch U.S. non-farm payrolls data Friday, a key barometer of the U.S. economy. Next week the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to announce a rise in interest rates and offer guidance on the pace of further increases.
• "In 2018, we're looking at a $1,325 price target," said George Gero, managing director of RBC Wealth Management in New York.
"There's a lot to worry about with geopolitical and other threats, and a possible stock market correction."
• Among other precious metals, silver dropped 1.1 percent to $15.79 an ounce after slipping to its lowest since mid-July at $15.72.
• Platinum slid 1.2 percent at $890.74 an ounce, earlier touching its lowest since July 11 at $889.50. The metal has fallen nearly 5 percent this week and is on track for its biggest weekly loss in nine months.
• Palladium was up 1.8 percent at $1,011 an ounce.
Reference: Reuters
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