Gold Pulls Back Further Off Recent Highs

(RTTNews) - Gold prices moved to the downside during trading on Friday, extending the modest pullback seen in the previous session.

After slipping $9.60 or 0.5 percent to $2,083.50 an ounce during Thursday's session, gold for February delivery fell $11.70 or 0.6 percent to $2,071.80 an ounce.

With the decrease, the price of gold continued to give back ground after reaching a six-month closing high on Wednesday.

Gold saw further downside even though the value of the U.S. dollar has shown a lack of direction on the day, with the U.S. dollar index currently down less than a tenth of a percent.

In U.S. economic news, MNI Indicators released a report showing a substantial downturn by Chicago-area business activity in the month of December.

MNI Indicators said its Chicago business barometer tumbled to 46.9 in December from 55.8 in November, with a reading below 50 indicating contraction. Economists had expected the index to drop to 51.0.