Comex gold settled above $500 on Thursday amid short-covering and physical buying interest ahead of the long holiday weekend.
February contract gold futures settled up $9.70 at $505.00 an ounce at the Comex division of the NYMEX.
At the open the contract garnered support from overnight buying interest in Japan and
traded in a $497.80-$507.30 an ounce range.
The session was marked by light volume as the year-end approaches but traders
noted that strong physical demand, mainly from the Middle and Far Eastern
regions, moved in after gold broke below the $500 an ounce level on Tuesday.
