Gold drops Thursday

Gold for December slipped Thursday on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange as equities posted losses on Wall Street. Gold closed at $1,742.20 per troy ounce, down $10.80. Silver shed 44 cent to $32.78. The dollar was broadly higher in Asia and Europe with the dollar index up 0.42 percent to 79.37 on the International Exchange. The euro fell to $1.3066 from Thursday's $1.312. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 79.26 yen from 78.97 yen. The British pound fell to $1.6047, while the Canadian dollar fell to 98.58 cents. The dollar dropped to 7.7502 Hong Kong dollar from 7.7513.