Gold pared earlier advance as the dollar strengthened against majors, thereby reducing the appeal of the yellow metal as an alternative investment. While gold took a boost in the past few sessions from the oil's advance to eight month high on the back of the tensions in Iran after the approval of the EU to impose a ban on Iran's oil imports, the dollar's rally capped the metal's gains and affected other dollar-denominated commodities. Now, the dollar and yen are seen the only safe havens in the market; thus, with the worries stemming form the euro area the dollar is getting stronger. The dollar soared against majors after France sold 7.96 billion euros of long-term debt, namely 2012, 2023, 2035 and 2041 bills. Yet, the main focus was on the yield on the benchmark 10-year bonds which saw a rise in the yield to 3.29% compared with 3.18% in the previous auction. The rise in the yield added to concerns amid speculations rating agencies will cut the country's top credit rating. On the other hand, the dollar was not much affected by the improvement in the U.S. data released today, where U.S. ADP employment change showed a rise to 325,000 compared with the revised 204,000, while initial jobless claims for the week ended Dec. 31 showed a decline to 372,000 from the revised 387,000 a week before. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback's movements versus six major currencies, skyrocketed to a high of 80.77 compared with the day's opening of 80.10. Spot gold is currently traded higher around $1605.57 an ounce, after recording a high $1625.70 and a low of $1603.35. The shiny metal is still getting support from the critical physiological level of $1600. Crude oil also slipped to from eight-month high trade around $103.00 a barrel compared with the day's opening of $103.22.
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