Gold settled up by Rs.176.00 at 30757 reversing losses on signs US lawmakers were making progress towards an agreement on raising the country's borrowing limit to avoid a debt default. US House Republican leaders on Friday said they would seek to pass a three-month extension of federal borrowing authority next week to buy time - on pain of losing their own paychecks - for the Democratic-controlled Senate to pass a budget plan that shrinks budget deficits. US Senate Democrats for the first time in more than three years will pass a budget, a senior Democratic lawmaker said on Sunday, fulfilling a basic task that Republicans have been urging them to do. US consumer sentiment unexpectedly deteriorated for a second straight month to its lowest in over a year in January, with many consumers citing fallout from the recent "fiscal cliff" debate in Washington, a survey released on Friday showed. Meanwhile India has raised import duties on gold by a half to try to rein in demand for the precious metal. The import tax is rising from 4% to 6%, a year after doubling from 2% to 4%. The Indian government wants to curb imports of gold to try to help reduce the country's current account deficit, which hit a record 5.4% of total economic output between July and September last year. Now technically market is getting support at 30602 and below could see a test of 30448 level, And resistance is now likely to be seen at 30879, a move above could see prices testing 31002.

Trading Ideas:

Gold trading range for the day is 30448-31002.

Gold prices rose as market factored in the finance ministry's decision to raise the import tax on gold to 6%.

Expectations for more aggressive stimulus measures by the Bank of Japan underpinned sentiment on the precious metal.

Finance ministry official says import duty on gold increased to 6 pct immediately from 4 pct