Gold closed a choppy session modestly lower as traders considered interest rate cuts in Europe. February-gold closed at $765.50 per ounce, down $5 for the session. On a volatile day of trading, the metal hit as high as $790 and as low as $763.
The dollar saw mixed results against other majors. The greenback plunged against the euro as traders turned to the higher-yielding European currency. The buck gained on the British pound. Usually, gold moves opposite the dollar becuase of the precious metal's hedge value.
Gold prices have been range-bound since a sharp sell-off on Monday. The metal plunged more than $40 on Monday. Last week, gold added $14.40 and finished the month of November up $98.
Crude oil plunged to its lowest level since January 2005, further reducing gold's hedge value. Oil closed at $43.67, down $3.12 for the session.
On the economic front, Department of Commerce data showed that factory orders fell by 5.1 percent in October following a revised 3.1 percent decrease in September. Economists had expected orders to fall by 4.5 percent compared to the 2.5 percent decrease originally reported for the previous month.
A Department of Labor report showed that jobless claims fell to 509,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 530,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to increase to 540,000 from the 529,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Traders around the world considered aggressive interest rate cuts by the Bank of England and European Central Bank. The Bank of England cut the bank rate by 100 basis points to 2%, while the ECB reduced rates 75 basis points to 2.5%.
