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Gold was set to rise more than 9 percent in 2016, its first annual gain in four years, edging higher in the final trading session of the year on Friday on the back of a weaker dollar.

Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,159.36 an ounce by 0325 GMT, having earlier hit a more than two-week high of $1,163.14 an ounce. The metal rose over one percent in the previous session, its biggest daily percentage gain since late September.

"Gold made robust gains as demand surged during the periods of economic and political uncertainty until the third quarter," said Mihir Kapadia, CEO of London-based Sun Global Investments .

"The decline experienced by the metal during December is largely due to the market tide favoring the U.S. economy which hopes for infrastructure and spending boost under a Trump administration, which has cemented expectations of higher interest rates and higher stock prices in 2017," Kapadia said.

"Some of the previous headwinds that have pushed gold lower are now fading; among bearish items now no longer on the list include a stronger dollar, rising U.S. rates and buoyant equity markets," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said in a note.

Top consumer China's net gold imports via main conduit Hong Kong fell 17.84 percent month on month in November, data showed on Thursday.

DailyFX’s recent gold forecast is not bullish for gold. In fact, they see a “bearish trading bias,” noting that the XAUUSD “Speculative Sentiment Index” has fallen to lows in recent days. This lack of confidence could spell a dip for gold.

DailyForex.com has its own projections to make, believing that gold may stay in the realm of $1,100 at the end of the quarter, which would be a further dip of some $50 from where gold stands today. This relatively modest decrease certainly seems within the realm of possibility, especially with so many investors moving to stocks with the results of the US election.

If gold truly will move down about $50 in the first quarter of 2017, then there may be a buying opportunity in the works. The recent “dip” may not be the true dip at all. Those who are looking for an efficient store of value may want to be cautious and wait to see what 2017 has in store for the yellow metal.

Reference: Reuters, DailyFX