Gold's nine-day rally, the longest since 1982, came to an end Thursday, but not before the yellow metal had hit another record high.

The December contract fell $3.30 to $1,183.70 an ounce in electronic trade, only the second day this month it has fallen. But it had touched a new best of $1,195 earlier on.

A rare strong session for the dollar gave gold a push in the right direction, but profit takers emerged later in what was thin trade as Americans were absent for Thanksgiving.

There had been large gains Wednesday following reports that India was back in the market for more of the International Monetary Fund's gold reserves. It paid $6.7bn for 200 metric tons of the fund's gold at the start of the month.

The IMF also confirmed Thursday that Sri Lanka had bought 10 tons of its gold for around $375m.

On the oil markets, crude skidded lower as traders decided inventories at their highest in four weeks would probably satisfy demand for fuel in the US this winter.

Crude oil for January delivery fell $1.73 to $76.23 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as the pits were closed for the US holiday.

Supplies of crude were almost 338 million barrels last week, while distillate inventories, which include heating oil and diesel, were 26% above the five-year average, the Energy Department said midweek.

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