Gold prices decline last week

Singapore (Dec 20)  Gold steadied on Friday but largely kept losses made a day earlier when the metal suffered its biggest slide in five months after US interest rates were raised for the first time in nearly a decade and the dollar surged.

In a much anticipated move, the Federal Reserve raised the range of its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, sending the dollar higher but hurting non-interest-paying gold.

Spot gold ticked up 0.3 percent to $1,054.40 an ounce by 0327 GMT, following a 2 percent slide in the previous session, its biggest one day slide since July.

The metal is down nearly 2 percent for the week in its worst performance in six weeks.

"Continued strength in the dollar is weighing upon precious metals following the Federal Reserve's rate announcement and we are likely to see recent low prints once again tested over the short term," said MKS Group trader Sam Laughlin.

Source: Reuters