Gold futures prices ended the US day session moderately lower Thursday, on some backing and filling on the charts after prices Wednesday hit a five-week high. However, the keen trader and investor anxiety in the world market place did limit selling interest in safe-haven gold.

Kitco’s Silver Fixing price is derived by a unique algorithm that averages the spot price between bid/offer on the wholesale silver market, as quoted by internationally recognized bullion dealers.

It was “never discussed nor are there current or future plans to do so on the board’s agenda.”

Gold-mining stocks were generally considered undervalued during 2012 but that trend is expected to change in 2013 as mining companies are expected to bring down production costs.

Comex gold futures prices ended the U.S. day session moderately higher Thursday. The key outside markets were in a bullish posture for the precious metals—weaker U.S. dollar index and higher crude oil prices. Trading in gold and silver remains ch...

Barclays Capital analysts say the pullback in platinum group metals since winter offers “attractive buying opportunities: "We expect palladium prices to average $700/oz in 2012 and platinum to average $1,622/oz."

This week’s sharp sell-off and China’s weak data have survey participants in the Kitco News Gold Survey split on the direction for prices next week.

Stornoway Diamond Corp. (TSX:SWY) will make it a priority during 2012 to obtain all the permitting and financing needed to get its northern Quebec Renard Project in construction by mid-2013, according to company officials.

During the early months of 2012, the platinum group metals may resemble the fictional-movie boxer Rocky Balboa early in his bouts–taking punches and generally on the defensive, in this case because economic uncertainty means worries about growth in industrial demand for PGMs.

Gold should trade as high as $2,200 an ounce in 2012 and silver should touch $45, Barclays Capital said Thursday in a research note.                 

Indian gold import data is much lower than expected, according to the Bombay Bullion Association, says Commerzbank, and this could have implications for physical prices. Commerzbank notes that the association says India imported “only” 125 tons of gold in the fourth quarter of 2011, with buyers hampered by a combination of high prices and high domestic interest rates.

Gold is in the bump phase of a seven-year Bump-and-Run Reversal Top pattern which typically occurs when excessive speculation drives prices up steeply, and is now at a critical juncture which could change the long-term trend of gold.