By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Gold prices struggled to hold their ground above the $1,750-an-ounce level Monday as the U.S. dollar strengthened amid caution over developments in Europe. The yellow metal’s December futures GCZ2 -0.10% slipped $3, or 0.2%, to $1,748.40, but were restricted to a narrow $5 dollar range in electronic trading. On Friday, they soared $23.20 to settle at $1,751.40, their highest level since Oct. 17. The drop on Monday came as markets awaited the Eurogroup’s talks to approve disbursal of the next tranche of loans to Greece. The general mood in equity and currency trading also portrayed investor risk aversion, as markets digested the result of elections in Spain’s wealthy Catalonia region. In the region’s elections, a nationalist party seeking a referendum on independence won less seats than required for an absolute majority, but enough to return as the single largest party in the local parliament. The ICE dollar index DXY -.00% , which measures the greenback against a basket of six other global currencies, rose to 80.269 during Asian trading hours from 80.190 Friday afternoon in North America. The euro EURUSD -0.04% slipped to $1.2961 from $1.2983. Elsewhere in the metals complex, silver for December SIZ2 -0.24% delivery fell 0.3% to $34 an ounce. Palladium PAZ2 -0.61% and copper HGZ2 -0.21% for delivery in the same month dropped by 0.8% to $662.40 an ounce and by 0.2% to $3.52 a pound, respectively. January platinum futures PLF3 -0.43% slipped 0.3% to $1,612.50 an ounce. Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau. Follow him on Twitter @MktwKumar.

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