On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for February delivery traded at USD1643.65 a troy ounce during late U.S. trade gaining 0.74%.
It earlier hit a high of USD1647.85, the highest since December 13th.
Gold futures were likely to find support at USD1612.35 a troy ounce and technical resistance exists at USD1681.55, the high of December 13th.
Strength in the U.S. dollar usually works to depress precious metal prices. However, not today as the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, gained 0.53% to trade at 81.58.
The dollar was strengthened by safe haven buying as investors fled the euro after rating agency Fitch stated that the European Central Bank must do more to avoid a collapse of the single currency.
For much of the last year, investor's typical reaction to bad news from Europe was to buy gold, as its boosts safe haven appeal of the precious metal, but that relationship has unraveled recently.
Instead, gold futures have moved largely in line with other commodities and risk assets over the past months, with investors preferring the relative safety of the U.S. dollar.
Silver bulls got a boost when the U.S. mint revealed that it sold 3.96 million ounces of American Eagle Silver coins thus far in January. This is more than the combined sales of the previous two months
Elsewhere on the Comex, silver for March settlement climbed 0.59% to trade at USD29.99 a troy ounce, while copper for March delivery surged by 1.15% to trade at USD3.55 a pound.
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