Gold pared advance on Thursday trading after downbeat U.S. growth report which enhanced demand on the dollar as a refuge and damped demand on gold as an alternative investment. The 3q GDP third reading was downwardly revised to 1.8% from second reading of 2.0%, while personal consumption also was revised down to 1.7% from 2.3%. The data caused some frustration among investors as they expected further improvement as the latest wave data gave hopes the U.S. would lead recovery in 2012, taking into consideration that the Fed announced recently it will not expand stimulus. Other data from the U.S. signaled slight improvement in initial jobless claims for the week ended Dec. 17 to 364,000 from 368,000 a week before. Fitch Ratings mentioned on Wednesday "the high and rising federal and general government debt burden is not consistent with the U.S. retaining its 'AAA' status despite its other fundamental sovereign credit strengths," yet it said probably there will be no downgrade action before 2013. Also on Wednesday, the market was revived with fears after the ECB offered 489 billion euros of three-year funds to 523 European banks, above estimates of 310 billion euros, igniting concerns European banks are heavily dependent on the ECB funds. On the upside, U.K. 3q GDP which was upwardly revised to 0.6% from the preliminary and median estimated of 0.5%. Spot gold is currently traded around $1608.30 an ounce after recording a high $1616.70 and a low of $1601.99. Still, the shiny metal is fighting to remain above the physiological level of $1600. Crude oil, on the other hand, is currently traded higher at $99.45 a barrel compared with the day's opening of $98.96. In the currency market, the dollar showed some advance after U.S. growth report, according to the dollar index, which tracks the greenback's movements versus six major currencies, which is currently hovering around 80.02 compared with the day's opening of 79.97.
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