Gold and Silver Steady at New Year as Index Selling Looms

Gold and silver steadied at the beginning of the year after their best annual performances since 1979 as traders assessed the reweighting of a benchmark commodity index that starts next week.

Bullion gained as much as 1.9% on Friday before paring most gains during US hours. Silver eased after earlier climbing as much as 4%. While traders have flagged the metals could do well this year on further US interest-rate cuts and dollar weakness, there’s concern that a broad index rebalancing might pressure prices in the near term. Given the metals have rallied, passive tracking funds may sell some contracts to match new weightings.