Gold barely changed in US

Gold settled barely changed in thin volume on Monday, unscathed by China's rate hike, as the precious metal resumed futures trading in New York after the Christmas break. The physical bullion market was quiet with London traders on holiday. US gold futures' most-active contract, February, settled up $2.40, or 0.2 percent, at $1,382.90 an ounce on the COMEX metals division of the New York Mercantile Exchange after dipping nearly 0.5 percent early in the session.
Spot gold, which reflects trades in bullion, was down less than 0.1 percent by 1:45 pm EST (1845 GMT), hovering at around $1383 per ounce. Analysts said there were few leads for precious metals investors after discounting the rate hike imposed over the weekend by the People's Bank of China. Holidays through Tuesday in London and a blizzard pounding New York and most of the US Northeast also kept financial market activity to a minimum.
Volume in gold futures was down 80 percent from the 30-day average by the time COMEX settled. Comparatively, there was more activity in platinum - a market far smaller than gold - as investors reacted positively to recent US government incentives for the metal used primarily for purifying exhaust fumes from cars.
"It was a very, very quiet day with hardly any news," said Frank McGhee, head precious metals trader at Chicago's Integrated Brokerage Services. "China's rate hike can't even be considered counteractive to the easing by the US Fed, and that's why gold prices are not giving up much or moving too far from their record."
Gold prices are up more than 25 percent on the year, rallying with most other commodities in the fourth quarter as the dollar wilted in the face of strong inflation anticipated from a $600 billion economic stimulus rolled out by the US Federal Reserve. February gold futures on COMEX hit a record high of $1,432.50 an ounce and spot gold peaked at $1,430.95 in recent weeks, only giving back gains after the dollar gained on the euro due to lingering debt woes in eurozone nations.