Daily Gold Update

Source: MarketWatch

New York— Gold futures fell Wednesday to close at their lowest level in nearly two weeks, as the U.S. dollar rose against its major rivals, reducing the metal's appeal as an alternative investment. Gold for February delivery, the most active contract, ended down $12.80, or 1.6%, at $770.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest since Nov. 20. It dropped to $764.10 earlier. The front-month December contract, which expires on Dec. 29, finished at $768.80. Open interest, or the number of outstanding contracts of the December contract, stood at 2,118 Wednesday, or 211,800 ounces, according to Comex data. Open interest of the February contract was at 16,102,700 ounces. Gold inventories held by the Comex for futures delivery stood at 2,908,224 ounces as of Monday, down 7,202 ounces from a day ago, according to latest data from the exchange.

The dollar strengthened against the euro and the British pound on expectations for big rate cuts by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England on Thursday. "There remained a general lack of buying interest [for gold] ahead of key rate decisions from the BoE and the ECB," said analysts at Action Economics. See full story.