NEW YORK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - COMEX gold reeled in more of last week's gains early Tuesday, easing as the dollar continued recovering against the euro and floor traders jockeyed positions before November options expire at the close.
At 0920 EDT (1420 GMT), December gold was $3 lower at $385.20 an ounce, after touching $388.70 and $384.00.
"They may try to pin it around this $385 level," said Kevin Grady, vice president at Refco LLC. "The big open interest is going to be the December options which expire in November."
Tuesday's Federal Open Market Committee meeting was also on the radar screen. Few expect a change in the official level of U.S. interest rates, now at 45-year lows, and gold would have to wait until Wednesday to see any reaction by currency and stock markets to the Fed announcement due after the COMEX close.
Grady said one fund sold 3,000 to 4,000 contracts at the open, pushing the contract down to $384, before short covering kicked in. "Around that level we saw very good trade support. The euro's starting to come back a little. That's why you are seeing some short covering."
The euro was quoted at $1.1683/87, down from $1.1745/51 at the close.
Gold surged $23 last week as the euro rose to a 15-day high not far from its lifetime peak from late May. Gold ran out of steam less than $2 from September's 7-year high at $394.80.
"It's just been coming off due to the slightly weaker euro," said a dealer at a precious metals refining company. "Otherwise it's consolidating after the huge rally we've seen over the last few days."
Funds have bet big on a test of $400 an ounce. Open interest jumped 8,219 on Friday as gold surged to $393.00. Dealers said many of those late longs were scared out by the lack of follow through Monday and Tuesday.
Spot gold fetched $384.35/5.05, down from Monday's last quote at $387.65/8.15. London bullion dealers fixed the morning reference price at $386.55.
December silver was 3.2 cents easier at $5.16 an ounce, touching $5.19 and $5.14.
Spot silver was quoted at $5.14/16, down from $5.17/19. The fix was $5.15 an ounce.
The NYMEX January platinum contract was 30 cents firmer at $746.00 an ounce. Spot platinum fetched $745.00/750.00.
December palladium was up 45 cents at $199.50 an ounce. Spot palladium fetched $195.00/200.00.