Gold Higher Euro

The gold price was slightly higher on Thursday afternoon due to the firmer euro against the US dollar, analysts said.

At 14h00, gold was quoted at US $407.90 a troy ounce, up from the New York close on Wednesday of $407.38/oz.

The euro was last quoted at $1.2315, up from late New York trade of $1.2264 on Wednesday.

"Gold is effectively range bound between $404/oz and $409/oz. Gold is following the firm euro," a London-analyst said.

Turning to the outlook, the analyst said the short-term outlook for gold could see the market move higher on factors like the oil price and concerns about the global economy.

However, toward the end of the year there is likely to be liquidation of long positions in gold, he added.

"Commodities are rallying; high yielding currencies are seeing carry-type inflows and US bond yields are falling towards 4%. But gold appears to be ignoring these factors, as it remains a proxy for dollar weakness. Now if the dollar starts to weaken again, gold can make strong gains in this environment," London-based UBS analyst John Reade said in a note.

At 14h00, palladium was quoted at $208/oz up $3/oz from its previous close, while platinum was quoted at $842/oz, unchanged from Wednesday's New York close.

"Palladium is testing a little higher on buying interest for industrial metals and energy," a London analyst said.