Gold firmed on Thursday, supported by some safe-haven buying and a softer dollar, but prices remained rangebound just under $1,400 per ounce.
Spot gold firmed 0.1 percent to $1,392 an ounce by 1526 GMT after rising as high as $1,396.70 on Wednesday -- its strongest since November 12. Bullion was still below a lifetime high around $1,424 struck early in November.
The ECB left its key interest rate unchanged at a record low 1.0 percent, as expected, on Thursday.
Gold has made solid gains this week, currently up more than 2 percent, as investors fear a debt crisis that has already sparked European Union bailouts of Ireland and Greece this year could spread to other countries, such as Portugal.
CHINESE IMPORTS FALL
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Shanghai Gold Exchange said on Thursday that China's gold imports soared in the first 10 months of the year to 209.72 tonnes. The country was the world's second biggest gold consumer last year.
Elsewhere, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings rose to 1,293.891 tonnes by Dec 1 from 1,286.603 tonnes previously. The holdings hit a record at 1,320.436 tonnes on June 29.
Wednesday's more-than-seven-tonne rise represents the largest one-day inflow to the fund since October 14, and comes after the trust's holdings fell in both October and November.
U.S. bank Goldman Sachs (GS.N) said on Wednesday it expects gold prices to peak near $1,750 an ounce in 2012 on rising U.S. interest rates, even as the metal's rally is expected to continue in 2011 due to quantitative easing.
In the rest of the precious metals complex, palladium was the star performer, jumping to nine-year highs at $751 an ounce. Palladium was later up 0.8 percent at $737.47.
Adrien Biondi, global head of precious metals at Commerzbank, said palladium had long been undervalued and was now playing catch-up, helped by the euro zone crisis, which has benefited the whole complex, and physical demand.
"The industry, especially in Germany, is doing better, the car industry is doing better and hence there's more demand, investors are catching up," he said, noting the rally had the potential to reach $900.
Silver eased a touch, meanwhile, down 0.1 percent at $28.41 an ounce, while platinum rose 1.1 percent to $1,700.50.
