MCX gold was trading at Rs 30764, down Rs 39 over the previous close. The metal had hit a high of Rs 30,810 earlier in the day.

In overseas trade Gold Futures was trading at $1669, marginally down by 0.34%. The metal had hit a four and half month high on Thursday on hopes of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve in September 2012.

Easing hopes sparked fresh buying in gold, which is the perfect hedge against rising prices. Easing programmes generally result in mild inflation in the economy.
"Many members judged that additional monetary accommodation would likely be warranted fairly soon unless incoming information pointed to a substantial and sustainable strengthening in the pace of the economic recovery," the Fed minutes of its meeting of July 31-Aug 1 revealed.

Along with the Federal Reserve there are hopes of a further stimulus from the European Central Bank to solve problems in the region. Also, there is renewed optimism that the financial crisis in Greece would be resolved soon, following a meeting of the leaders expected through the week.

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