Gold futures fell slightly Tuesday in thinly-traded pre-holiday sessions, with prices moving around $845 an ounce in narrow-range trading. Gold for February delivery, the most active contract, was last down $3.40, or 0.4%, at $843.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded in a range between $840.60 and $$849.80. "Trading ranges narrowed as market players geared up for an early departure from work tomorrow and as interest in trying to squeeze one more profitable day from an otherwise dismal year ebbed some more," said Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Bullion Dealers. "Year-end book-squaring may offer only a narrow platform for significant price swings," he added. The nearby December contract, which expires Dec. 29, also moved lower Tuesday. Open interest, or the number of outstanding contracts for December delivery, stood at 326 as of Monday, or 32,600 ounces, according to Comex data. Gold inventories held by Comex for futures delivery stood at 2,832,983 ounces as of Monday, unchanged from a day ago, according to the latest data from the exchange. Ailing economy Gold ended Monday's trading up for the first session in three, rising 1.2% as buying of the metal as a safe haven against the ailing economy returned. U.S. gross domestic product contracted at a rate line with economists' expectations. Inflation-adjusted GDP for the third quarter fell at a 0.5% annualized rate, unrevised from the previous estimate, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. It's the weakest quarterly performance for GDP since the first quarter of 2001. For the current quarter, economists are predicting a sharp decline -- in the neighborhood of 6% -- that would be the biggest drop since the early 1980s. See Economic Report. Meanwhile, the U.K. economy shrank more than expected in the third quarter as service industries took a severe hit. See full story. In currencies trading Tuesday, the U.S. dollar reversed Monday's gains. The dollar index , which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, fell 0.1%. In gold spot trading, the London afternoon gold-fixing price -- a benchmark for gold traded directly between big institutions -- stood at $844 an ounce Tuesday morning, down $5.40 from Monday afternoon. In other metals trading, March silver futures fell 2.1% to $10.635 an ounce. January platinum slid 0.3% to $854.70 an ounce, and March palladium lost 0.1% to $174.50 an ounce. March copper fell 2.8% to $1.3075 a pound. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange-traded gold fund, stood at 775.33 tons Monday, unchanged from a day ago and up 20 tons from a month ago, according to the latest data from the fund.

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