Gold edged up slightly to just above $1,200 an ounce on Tuesday as the US dollar eased after data showed a deterioration in consumer confidence, offsetting better-than-expected US economic growth numbers. The market lacked direction after US COMEX options expiry, ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday and the Swiss referendum on central bank gold reserves on Sunday.
The US Commerce Department raised its estimate of gross domestic product to a 3.9 percent annual pace from the 3.5 percent rate reported last month. Economists polled by Reuters had expected growth would be cut to a 3.3 percent pace. At 4:11 pm EST (2111 GMT), spot gold was up 0.4 percent at $1,202.10 an ounce, still not far from a three-week high of $1,207.70 reached on Friday after a surprise rate cut in top consumer China.
US gold futures settled at $1,197.1 per ounce, up 0.1 percent. In Switzerland, a right-wing Swiss party has called a vote for Sunday, aiming to prevent the Swiss National Bank from offloading its gold holdings and obliging it to hold at least 20 percent of its assets in bullion, compared with 8 percent last month. Platinum gained 2.1 percent to $1,226.0 an ounce. Silver rose 1.4 percent to $16.76 an ounce, and palladium also edged 0.4 percent higher to $797.25 an ounce.