(RTTNews) - Gold fell to a monthly low on Thursday as traders turned futures contracts into cash. December gold moved to $804.50, down $34.50 for the session, its sixth consecutive negative close. The metal hit as low as $791.00 in midday trading. The drop took gold below a support level near $822. The metal has lost more than $130 from its 10-week high of $936.30 from last week. Gold is down more than $200 from its record high of $1,033.90 from March. Gold's hedge value was pushed lower by the declining prices of crude oil. Crude fell as low as $68.57, a 14-month low, as traders considered a larger-than-expected build in crude and gasoline inventories. In other economic news, Department of Labor showed that the consumer price index was unchanged in September following an unrevised 0.1 percent decrease in August. Economists had been expecting a modest increase in prices of about 0.1 percent. Data also indicated the core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy prices, edged up 0.1 percent in September after rising 0.2 percent in the previous month. The increase came in slightly below economist estimates of another 0.2 percent increase. A separate Department of Labor report showed that jobless claims fell to 461,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 477,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to fall to 470,000 from the 478,000 originally reported for the previous week. A Federal Reserve report showed that industrial production fell by 2.8 percent in September following a revised 1.0 percent decrease in August. Economists had expected production to fall by 0.8 percent compared to the 1.1 percent decrease originally reported for the previous month. The dollar remained steady against the euro, remaining close to a yearly high of 1.3256 reached last Friday. Against the sterling, the dollar was range-bound near 1.72. Late last week, the dollar hit a 4-year high of 1.6770. For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

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