Investing.com - Gold prices declined on Friday, as U.S. markets were set to reopen after the Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday and as an abbreviated session of Comex floor trading was scheduled for Friday.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for February delivery traded at $1,186.80 a troy ounce during European morning trade, down 0.89%.

The December contract settled just 0.03% lower on Wednesday to end at $1,197.5 a troy ounce.

Futures were likely to find support at $1,177.00, the low from November 20 and resistance at $1,199.30, Thursday's high.

Markets were jittery ahead of an upcoming Swiss referendum on central bank gold reserves for more trading cues.

Swiss voters are set to go to the polls on November 30 to decide whether the Swiss National Bank would have to hold at least 20% of its assets in the precious metal, up from 8% now.

The most-recent opinion poll released last week showed that support for the "Save our Swiss gold" proposal slipped to 38%, down from 44% in a survey conducted last month.

The motion, if passed, would likely boost gold prices from current levels.

Gold prices also remained under pressure amid indications a strengthening U.S. economic recovery will force the Federal Reserve to start raising interest rates sooner and faster than previously thought.

Expectations of higher borrowing rates going forward is considered bearish for gold, as the precious metal struggles to compete with yield-bearing assets when rates are on the rise.

Elsewhere in metals trading, Comex, silver for March delivery plummeted 2.73% to $16.153 a troy ounce, while March copper lost 1.10% to trade at $2.920 a pound.