For most of the day, seeking firmer fundamental trading direction and finding little to none, gold found itself at the mercy of a slightly more robust U.S. dollar.

Sentiment that an interest rate increase is moving farther and farther out on the time horizon continues to throttle back dollar strength. This, in turn, helped gold rise today.

Provocatively, regular trading showed a loss, small as it was.

While there is going to be continuing speculation regarding the possibility of an interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve, there are some countervailing reasons as to why one should hold gold in a balanced portfolio.