London - Gold held near $1 200 (R13 224) an ounce on Wednesday as traders awaited Federal Reserve minutes later in the day and an opinion poll ahead of next week's Swiss gold referendum, with dollar strength holding prices back from near three-week highs.
Spot gold was at $1 200.97 an ounce at 12:27 SA time, up 0.3 percent, while US gold futures for December delivery were up $3.60 an ounce at $1 200.70.
On Tuesday gold peaked at $1 204.70, its highest since October 30, having slid to a 4-1/2 year low of $1 131.85 this month.
“What we've seen is a bit of short covering, because people had thought gold prices would fall further ... and that didn't happen,” LBBW analyst Thorsten Proettel said.
“But I don't think the gold price has much potential in the coming weeks to climb to new highs,” he added.
“The US economy is doing well. The US dollar has the potential to appreciate, so that will be a burden on the gold price.”
The dollar hit a fresh seven-year high against the yen on Wednesday as investors added favourable bets before the publication of Federal Reserve minutes that could highlight policy divergence with its peers.
Traders will be looking for clues on when the Fed will raise rates as any rate hike could hurt non-interest-bearing gold.
Speculation is also building over Switzerland's gold holdings ahead of the November 30 vote on a proposal that would force the Swiss National Bank to hold at least 20 percent of its assets in gold.
A opinion poll due for release on Wednesday will show if support for the measure has continued to decline from around 44 percent hit last month.
The chairman of the Swiss central bank said in an interview earlier this month that a vote in favour of the motion, which would also oblige the SNB to repatriate gold holdings and end all sales, would be disastrous for the country.
Silver was up 0.5 percent at $16.24 an ounce.
GFMS analysts at Thomson Reuters said on Tuesday that silver demand will fall 7 percent in 2014 because of a slower pace of buying by jewellers and industrial fabricators.
Spot platinum was up 0.5 percent at $1 206.65 an ounce, while spot palladium was flat at $769.98 an ounce. - Reuters