By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Gold futures came off the highest levels of the day on Friday as the dollar recovered from earlier losses against the euro while traders increasingly expect a meeting of European leaders to yield disappointing results.
A five-notch downgrade of Ireland by Moody’s Investors Service also weighed on the euro and supported the dollar, with implications in turn for the precious metal. See Currencies for more on trading in the dollar and the euro.
Gold for February delivery (GCG11 1,374, +2.60, +0.19%) added $2.30, or 0.2%, to $1,373.50 an ounce, after rising as high as $1,378.50 an ounce earlier.
The gold contract closed Thursday at $1,371 an ounce. Gold has slipped 0.9% this week, but it’s still up about 25% this year after touching a record high above $1,400 an ounce.
Also Friday, silver for March delivery (SIH11 2,895, +16.80, +0.58%) gained 10 cents to $28.89 an ounce.
Silver has gained 0.9% this week and is up a whopping 71% in 2010.
On Thursday, both precious metals fell, which traders attributed to year-end profit-taking as well as uncertainty about potential position limits on commodities. Read about gold, position limits.
