The most actively traded Gold February contract on COMEX division of New York Mercantile Exchange declined by $ 44 per troy ounce in a single day on Friday and $ 6 per in a week to settle at $ 1648.9 per troy ounce. Extension of gains in US Dollar against the basket of currencies pushed Gold to test a five month low in the first trading week of the year 2013. US Dollar gained 1% to 1.3078 against the Euro after the news that first time since financial crisis.

Federal Reserve was thinking to end the Quantitative Easing Programme (QE) sooner rather than later. Several Fed members preferred that QE3, the latest round of asset purchases that amount to a staggering $85 billion a month, to stop well before the end of 2013. In economic reports, Labor Department said that employers added 155000 jobs last month down from the 161000 jobs added in November. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.8 percent.

Euro zone CPI remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.2% in December compared to November. Germany service sector PMI was down to 52 in the month of December against 52.1 in the month of November last year. Meanwhile, Markit economics report showed that Eurozone Service PMI was unchanged at 47.8 in December.

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