The People's Bank of China on Saturday called for the strengthening of real estate policy in light of sluggish economic growth over the past several years.
"With inflation close to being in line with expectations, gold prices were higher on fresh speculative buying ahead of the new year on bets that the bigger funds might move to the long side of gold."
Commodity research firm says production growth, weaker demand and negative sentiment in the industry will see iron ore, copper and industrial metals sink next year.