NEW YORK, Aug 28 (Reuters) - New York gold futures edged off 3-month highs Thursday, cooled by profit taking in the run-up to a long weekend, growing confidence in the economy and nervousness over the epic bullish bet hanging over the COMEX.
Gold felt pressure from the dollar's firmness against the euro after the government released a larger-than-expected upward revision to second-quarter U.S. gross domestic product to 3.1 percent from July's advance estimate of 2.4 percent.
"Today is correction day. Everyone is sitting around not trading much," said a floor broker. "It's very different from yesterday's action. Weakness in the euro has helped push our market down a bit."
December gold closed down $2.50 at $371.60 an ounce. It traded from $374.20 to $370.00, after reaching its highest since May 27 at $375.40 on Wednesday. Estimated volume was 48,000 contracts, off Wednesday's more frantic 68,737.
COMEX metals trade will close early on Friday and will reopen Tuesday, after Monday's U.S. Labor Day holiday.
An 18,739-lot jump in open interest to 261,748 lots in Wednesday's buying free-for-all was "a little bearish," said Robert Gottlieb, head of bullion trading at HSBC. "We tried the downside. There are still buyers in the market, but we're just seeing a changing of positions today."
Funds have accumulated an unprecedented long position, which last Tuesday stood at 89,998 contracts, more extreme than when gold hit 6-1/2-year highs in February around $390.
Bullion has upward momentum even though the dollar is up considerably from the May lows against the euro. U.S. Middle East peace plans and the reconstruction of Iraq seem to be coming partly unglued and recent weeks of mounting violence have supported gold as a safe haven.
Spot bullion closed at $370.10/85, off from $372.60/3.10 late Wednesday. London bullion dealers fixed the afternoon spot reference price at $369.80.
Adding to Wednesday's frenzy was market speculation that the 1999 Washington Accord limiting government gold sales will be renegotiated at next month's International Monetary Fund meeting in Dubai, possibly with more countries and a higher cap on total sales.
The 5-year pact limited total disposals from participating European central banks to 400 tonnes per year.
December silver slipped 0.6 cent to $5.15 an ounce, after rallying to its highest since July 31 on Tuesday. The range was $5.165-$5.09.
Spot silver was at $5.11/13, off from $5.12/14 late Wednesday. The fix was $5.09.
NYMEX October platinum was down 70 cents at $712.50 an ounce, cooling from Wednesday's $19 advance to a contract high, but cutting losses before the close. Spot fetched $711.00/715.00, hovering near a 23-year high.
Platinum is an industrial metal used in automobile catalytic converters and jewelry. Its rally was magnified by recent good economic indicators. The market is tight, on fears that South Africa, the main producer, is not mining enough.
"Platinum, at least you have a fundamentally strong market. I'm not too thrilled with the gold fundamentals," said James Pogoda, a vice president of precious metals at Mitsubishi International Corp.
December palladium was down $2.80 at $205.00 an ounce. Spot palladium fetched $199.00/204.00.