Gold held just under $950 an ounce today, Wednesday, as the dollar steadied against a basket of currencies with weakness in the euro underpinning prices, but gains were capped by lack of physical demand for the metal.

A slide in oil prices is also undermining support for gold, analysts said.

Spot gold was at $947.85 an ounce at 1402 GMT, against $948.15 an ounce late in New York on Tuesday. U.S. gold futures for August delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange were up $1.30 at $948.20 an ounce.

“We are stuck in a range,” said Afshin Nabavi, head of trading at MKS Finance in Geneva. “We have to break below $944 or above $955 in order to see some interest in the market.”

“With stocks opening lower and the euro not performing that (well), gold could test the lower end of its range,” he added.

The dollar <.DXY> was steady versus a

Gold ticked higher in volatile trade on Thursday, underpinned by improving investment appetite and gains in other commodities such as oil and metals and despite the dollar rising against the euro.

Platinum touched its highest in six months as dollar weakness over the past couple of days prompted industrial and bargain-hunting buying, lifting palladium by nearly 6 percent to its highest in over four months.

But analysts said with sales sharply down in the auto sector, the main consumer of platinum, the rally lacked fundamentals to support it and was seen short-lived.

Spot gold rose to $938.00 per ounce at 1541 GMT, up from $933.15 an ounce late in New York on Wednesday. Oil hit its highest in four months while copper surged 3 percent.

“Money keeps pushing into commodities on concerns over the money supply in the United States,” said John

Gold surge fuelled by inflation fears… Deflation seen short-lived…  Platinum boosted, helped by auto sector optimism

Gold surged on Monday, helped by higher oil prices, a lower dollar and investor concern about inflationary pressures given the large amounts of money being pumped into the global economy.

Autocatalyst material platinum jumped more than 6 percent to $840 an ounce, while palladium gained more than 11 percent to $178 on growing optimism about a rescue for the auto industry in the United States.

Spot gold rose nearly 3 percent to $776.70 an ounce and was up at $773.90/775.90 at 1030 GMT from $754.60 in New York late on Friday, when it fell to $740.40, the lowest since November 20 in a commodities-wide sell-off.

To some, talk of inflation is premature given the world is currently grappling with the prospect of deflation, but forward looking investors are

U.S. non-farm payrolls fall 533,000 in November… Oil slips more than 2 percent

Gold fell on Friday as investors sold assets after data showed a much larger-than-expected fall in U.S. November non-farm payrolls.

A sharp dip in the dollar in the immediate wake of the numbers initially sent gold higher, but it quickly gave up gains as the U.S. currency reversed direction.

The precious metal is often bought as an alternative investment to the dollar and tends to move in the opposite direction to it.

Spot gold was quoted at $752.30/754.30 an ounce at 1427 GMT, against $765.70 late in New York on Thursday, having earlier touched a low of $747.20.

“(The data) shows a worsening economic situation, and it is hard for assets to maintain value against that,” said John Meyer, an analyst at Fairfax investment bank.

U.S. non-farm payrolls fell by 533,000

The base metals were all bathing in blood on Friday. Copper had a stunningly dismal day, falling in the pre-dawn hours, then seeing every rally in the New York market squashed, and finally just coming off its intraday low late to finish at $2.1916/lb., down 27¾ cents.