LONDON--Spot gold prices are up from the lows hit last week as the rise in the U.S. dollar pauses and stock markets trade up mildly.
Trade is light ahead of the holiday and end of the year.
Where gold trades in the new year will depend on how the dollar behaves, traders and analysts said.
"We would look for speculative and investment bargain hunting buying to provide further support in the coming sessions, although with the stronger dollar still the primary driving force, the metal remains at risk to a dip back to the $1,050 a troy ounce to $1,080-per-ounce area," said James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com.
Spot gold was trading at $1,114.20 per ounce , up 0.2% from Friday's close. It had falled below $1,100 per ounce during Thursday and Friday trade. Gold for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was at $1,115.30/oz.
The dollar and gold have tended to move in opposite directions in recent weeks.
Commerzbank predicted that prices could fall in the coming weeks given the focus on investors and the light demand for physical gold..
"We now believe the probable year-end gold price will be around $ 1,050/oz," Commerzbank said. The deteriorating technical outlook is likely to prompt investors to close out their positions to take profits, which will push the gold price down, it added.
Holdings in the largest gold exchange traded fund, SPDR, rose 6.10 tons Friday to 1,126.611 tons. And the Commitment of Traders report from the CFTC showed a 0.68 million ounce increase in the net speculative long to 31.84 million ounces as short covering outweighed long liquidation, Moore said.
In other news, the Central Bank of Russia said Monday that its gold reserves are up 20.1% as of Dec. 1 from Jan. 1 to total 19.7 million Troy ounces. The proportion of gold in Russia's total international reserves increased to 5.1% from 3.4% on Jan. 1.
Spot silver was at $17.32 per ounce, up 0.3%. Spot platinum was at $1,427.50 per ounce, up 0.2%. Spot palladium was at $366 per ounce, up 1.2%.
