US gold lower

US gold futures settled moderately lower on Thursday, ahead of the long Christmas weekend, hurt by the firming dollar after a slew of positive US economic data reinforced the view that the pace of growth increased in the fourth quarter, analysts said.
CME Globex and CME ClearPort are unaffected and will run on a normal schedule on Thursday. On Friday, CME ClearPort will close at 8 am EST (1300 GMT) and re-open Sunday at 6 pm EST (2300 GMT) for the next day's trade date. COMEX February gold futures lost $6.90, or 0.5 percent, at finish a holiday-shortened week at $1,380.50 an ounce on the COMEX division of the NYMEX.
Range dropped to $1,372.60 from $1,389 an ounce. COMEX gold volume was more than two-thirds lighter than average for the past 30 days, in line with volumes for most of the commodity complex - preliminary Reuters data. COMEX put gold floor trade at 72,346 lots by the close, down slightly from Wednesday's thin count of 72,534 lots.
Most players expect gold to stick within its $1,360 to $1,400 an ounce range into early 2011, said analysts. Spot gold was bid at $1,377.40 an ounce by 2:32 EST (1932 GMT) down from Wednesday's ending bid at $1,384.55 per ounce in New York. The bullion prices returned to the middle of their recent range, after hitting a one-week low earlier at $1,372.05 per ounce. COMEX March silver eased 5.70 cents to close at $29.3280 an ounce. Lower range ran from $28.9450 to $29.42 an ounce. COMEX estimated silver futures volume was off by about 75 percent of the average pace over the last month - preliminary Reuters data showed. Spot silver nudged up to $29.24 an ounce in late New York trade, against $29.20 late on Wednesday.
NYMEX January platinum finished with $7.80 losses at $1,723.10 an ounce. Spot platinum fell to $1,712.74 an ounce from $1,721.50 per ounce at the previous close. NYMEX March palladium was up $2.95 to settle at $758.10 an ounce. Spot palladium eased to $747.25 an ounce from $748.25 at Wednesday's close.