Gold futures ended higher Wednesday, pacing gains in U.S. stocks and crude-oil futures and marking the metal's eighth straight yearly gain -- the longest winning streak since at least 1980.
The metal's annual return of 5.5%, however, is the smallest since 2004.
Gold for February delivery closed up $14.30, or 1.6%, at $884.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It dropped to as low as $857.30 earlier.
Gold futures had surged 20% in the first three months of the year to a record high above $1,003 an ounce in March. Since then, it had fallen more than $300, or 30%, to below $700 in October.
In equity trading Wednesday, stocks gained ground as investors took stock of a terrible year for global markets and took fresh positions ahead of the new year. See Currencies.
Also moving gold prices, crude oil erased earlier losses, jumping more than 13% to above $45 a barrel. Rising crude prices tend to increase gold's appeal as a hedge against inflation. See Futures Movers.
In other metals trading, March silver futures rose 2.9% to $11.295 an ounce. Silver fell 24% in 2008.
April platinum rose 2.6% to $941.50 an ounce and March palladium rose 2.5% to $188.70 an ounce. For the year, platinum lost 38% and palladium dropped 50%.
March copper rose 6.8% to $1.41 a pound. Copper ended the year down 54%.
In gold spot trading, the London gold-fixing price -- a benchmark for gold traded directly between big institutions -- stood at $865 an ounce Wednesday morning, down $4.75 from Tuesday afternoon.
Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust the largest exchange-traded gold fund, stood at 780.23 tons Tuesday, unchanged from a day ago and up 22 tons from a month ago, according to the latest data from the fund. The SPDR Gold Trust rose 0.9% to $86.65.
The Amex Gold Bugs Index which tracks the share prices of major gold companies, added 2.1% to 301.53.
The iShares Gold Trust exchange-traded fund gained 0.9% to $86.68, while the iShares Silver Trust ETF rose 3.5% to $11.20.
The Market Vectors-Gold Miners ETF gained 2.1% to $33.68.
