Gold futures swung between gains and losses Thursday, after falling for three consecutive sessions to hit a five-week low, as investors factored in a strengthening U.S. dollar and tumbling oil prices. Gold for February delivery was last up 70 cents, or 0.1%, to $809.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was trading in a range between $802.80 and $822.10. Gold settled at $808.80 Wednesday, its lowest closing price since Dec. 10. Pushing gold lower, the U.S. dollar rose against the euro Thursday after the European Central Bank cut its key interest rate. Meanwhile, crude oil dropped for a second day, reducing gold's appeal as a hedge against inflation. "Players digested the near-term market fallout from the [ECB] rate cut as regards the U.S. dollar, the price of oil, and the outlook for commodities in general," said Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Bullion Dealers. The ECB delivered another rate cut Thursday, dropping its benchmark lending rate by half of a percentage point to 2% in the face of a sharp and worsening recession. The cut matched expectations. See full story. The dollar index , which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, rose 0.6% to 84.855. Gold and the greenback tend to move in the opposite direction. See Currencies. In energy trading, oil futures fell Thursday, tumbling more than 5% to below $36 a barrel, as worries that the economic downturn will dampen energy demand continued. See Futures Movers. Economic troubles Helping give gold a boost was a string of bad economic news. Some investors buy gold as a safe have against economic troubles. First-time applications for state unemployment benefits rose 54,000 to a seasonally adjusted 524,000 in the week ending Jan. 10, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average of new claims fell 8,000 to 518,500 - a level that is 55% higher than the average during the same period in the prior year. U.S. foreclosure filings in 2008 rose 81% from 2007 and tripled from 2006, RealtyTrac reported on Wednesday. A total of nearly 3.16 million foreclosure filings, were reported in 2008. In the financial sector, J.P. Morgan Chase said Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit fell 77.6% amid continuing write-downs and a deteriorating consumer environment. See full story. Meanwhile, the government is close to committing billions in additional aid to Bank of America Corp. to help the bank digest its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co., the Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday. In other metals trading, March copper rose 0.2% to $1.491 a pound, March silver slid 0.2% to $10.455 an ounce, April platinum dropped 0.4% to $932 an ounce, and March palladium fell 3.1% to $176.35 an ounce. In gold spot trading, the London afternoon gold-fixing price -- a benchmark for gold traded directly between big institutions -- stood at $810 an ounce Thursday, down $11.50 from the previous day. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust , the largest exchange-traded gold fund, totaled 790.65 tons Wednesday, up 3 tons from a day earlier, according to the latest data from the fund. The SPDR Gold Trust lost 0.3% to $79.56. The Amex Gold Bugs Index , which tracks the share prices of major gold companies, fell 1.6% to 247.09. The iShares Gold Trust exchange-traded fund sank 0.3% to $79.64, while the iShares Silver Trust ETF ) eased 1.2% to $10.32 The Market Vectors-Gold Miners ETF lost 1.5% to $27.77.

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