Singapore: Gold held steady just above $1,300 on Thursday, as the metal's safe-haven appeal was boosted by weaker equities. Its gains were limited by a second day of outflows from gold funds.
Spot gold was up less than 0.1 percent at $1,304.36 an ounce. T. Japanese and Australian shares fell following a late dip on Wall Street, although stocks in South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore managed minor gains.
The metal fell to a six-week low of $1,298.29 in the previous session, trading below the $1,300 level briefly before moving back up.
"The technical outlook for gold is bearish, and barring sudden changes in fundamentals, this technical bearishness is likely to prevail over even slightly more optimistic sentiments from the fund side," said Joyce Liu, Investment Analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 1.80 tonnes to 816.97 tonnes on Wednesday, after losing 2.70 tonnes in the previous session.
Bullion has been under pressure recently, after hitting a six-month high of $1,391.76 earlier this month.
US Federal Reserve Chair, Janet Yellen suggested that interest rates could rise in the first half of 2015. This will increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion and sparking a sharp retracement in prices.
