Gold Slides on Dollar, Indian Rate Hike, Technicals

New York--A strong dollar, India's interest rate hike and a failure by the April contact to  break through resistance around the $1,10 level pushed gold lower Friday.The April gold futures contract in New York settled down $19.90  at $1,107.60 an ounce.Sterling Smith, market analyst with Country Hedging,  Inc., said India and the dollar were the driving factors. Gold had been able to hold off the dollar's recent strength, but the combination of factors weighed on prices. India's rate hike put "a bucket of sand on the fire..."Smith said.Gold was affected more than silver or copper, he said.Smith said the charts had started to form some momentum, but hit resistance around the $1,130 level in the April contract, a point where it stalled earlier. "The trouble began when it did not push through it," he said.There was also lingering uncertainty over the Greek financial crisis, analysts said.James Steel, precious metals analyst with HSBC in New York, said Friday's moves may have been exaggerated because of thin trading conditions. The market had been playing ping-pong, Steel said, on the bearishness of the Greek financial crisis and the bullish factors surrounding Chinese-U.S. relations. On Friday, the Greek concerns translated into a reduced risk factor for the dollar and Euro weakness, which undercut gold, Steel said. http://bit.ly/ahtWgO