Gold snapped its three-day losing streak to shine today as the rupee fell against the dollar. The rupee ended at 54.47 against Thursday's 54.14. A weak rupee makes imports of dollar-denominated commodities such as gold expensive.

Pure gold (99.9 purity) gained Rs 50 to Rs 31,080 while ornamental gold (99.5 purity) gained Rs 240 to Rs 30,940 for 10 gm.

Globally, the yellow metal added 14 cents to $1,700.04 an ounce. In the oils and oilseed counter, rising stockpiles and weak export data dragged palm oil which dropped for a third week highlighting ample supply in the largest producers - Indonesia and Malaysia. However, on Friday the contract for February delivery closed marginally higher at 2,297 ringgit ($752) a tonne on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange.

Soya oil for delivery in January was little changed at 51.13 cents a pound on the Chicago Board of Trade. Palm oil for May delivery climbed 0.4 per cent to close at 6,838 yuan ($1,099) a tonne on the Dalian Commodity Exchange. Soya oil for May increased 0.4 per cent to 8,774 yuan.

Grains counter nudged higher with corn and wheat recovering from their losses while soyabeans declined on worries about unfriendly crop weather curbing South American supply.

Corn rebounded slightly from losses in the previous session, when it was hurt by weak US exports, while wheat also firmed amid concern over winter crops in the US.

On the Chicago Board of Trade January soyabeans fell 0.1 per cent to $14.90 a bushel. March corn rose 0.1 per cent to $7.52-1/2 a bushel, while March wheat rose 0.3 per cent to $8.64-1/4.

Brent oil slipped below $107 a barrel supported by expectations of a recovery in Chinese growth, although concern about economic weakness in EU and the US kept a lid on prices. Crude for January delivery was at $85.93 a barrel, down 33 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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