Gold Futures Kept in Check

Other economic statistics this week include the first pass on fourth-quarter GDP estimates, December personal income and spending data and the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index for January. Monthly payroll figures will round out the week on Friday.

In addition to the data minefield, any rally in gold will likely be hampered by reduced jewelry buying in India, where consumers have shunned purchasing items at the current inflated price levels, according to a research brief from Montreal-based bullion dealer Kitco.

Turning to the mining patch, JPMorgan was busy upgrading shares of silver producer Pan American Silver(PAAS Quote) to overweight from neutral, and downgrading Coeur d'Alene Mines(CDE Quote) to neutral from overweight.

Shares of Pan American closed down 0.1% at $27.78, and those of Coeur d'Alene ended the session down 4.2% at $4.30. On the Comex, benchmark silver contracts lost 13 cents at $13.25 an ounce.

The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF(GDX Quote), which tracks a basket of precious metals producers, closed down 2% at $38.42.

Among base metals, Comex copper contracts ended the session down 10 cents at $2.54 a pound, on worries over rising London Metal Exchange inventories. Stocks totaled 207,700 tons as of Friday, up almost one-third from 156,725 tons at the beginning of December.

Not everyone believes that the current run-up in available supplies can be sustained for much longer as imports of copper into China look set to surge.