SINGAPORE (Commodity Online) : Gold prices remained steady Friday after an overnight recovery due to Europe’s debt concerns while silver climbed. Spot gold was seen trading at $1389.77 an ounce at 12.30 p.m Singapore time while The February-delivery contract was 0.3 percent lower at $1,389.87 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Analysts however said the precious yellow metal is likely to moved up during the day to finish higher for the week as the dollar eased and Europe concerns might attract investments in gold. They said Ireland's debt woes continued to grab attention from investors, as Fitch downgraded the country's rating, and the opposition party said it would vote against a bailout package. The dollar paused from a rally earlier in the week as strong demand at a 30-year Treasury bond auction knocked yields lower, while the euro won a reprieve early in Asia. Meanwhile, Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, had been trending down in the past week. It declined 1.518 tones to 1,293.778 tones by Dec 9 from the previous day. Silver for immediate delivery rose 0.2 percent to $28.7750 an ounce, bringing down this week’s drop to 2.2 percent. The price rallied to $30.7025 on Dec. 7, the highest price since 1980. Silver outperformed gold this year, advancing 70 percent. Palladium for immediate delivery was little changed at $739.63 an ounce, losing 3.8 percent this week. Cash platinum rose 0.5 percent to $1,684.50 an ounce, paring this week’s loss to 2.5 percent. on Thursday, gold futures rebounded from a 2- day dip, as concerns over EU debt crisis intensified after Fitch Ratings downgraded the sovereign credit of Ireland. The most active gold contract for February delivery hiked $9.6 per ounce, or 0.7 percent, to settle at $1,392.8 a barrel. Silver for March delivery climbed 56.5 cents, or two percent, to $28.817 per ounce. Meanwhile, January platinum fell $2.5 , or 0.15 percent, to $1,678.9 per ounce.

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