Gold price in December 2011: daily prices, high, low and change
Gold closed December 2011 at $1,565.80 an ounce, down 10.30% on the month. The highest close was $1,747.00 on 2 Dec and the lowest $1,539.90 on 29 Dec. Every trading day below, with ranks and context computed from COMEX data.
Gold price chart, December 2011 (daily close and high-low range, US$ per ounce)
Gold line = daily settlement; bars = intraday high to low where available; dashed line = November 2011 close ($1,745.50).
Daily gold prices in December 2011 (21 trading days)
| Date | Open | High | Low | Close | Change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu 1 Dec | $1,747.00 | $1,753.30 | $1,734.50 | $1,735.30 | −$10.20 | −0.58% |
| Fri 2 Dec | $1,744.80 | $1,762.90 | $1,741.60 | $1,747.00 | +$11.70 | +0.67% |
| Mon 5 Dec | $1,748.90 | $1,752.60 | $1,718.70 | $1,730.70 | −$16.30 | −0.93% |
| Tue 6 Dec | $1,722.10 | $1,731.80 | $1,703.00 | $1,727.90 | −$2.80 | −0.16% |
| Wed 7 Dec | $1,730.60 | $1,741.90 | $1,720.00 | $1,740.90 | +$13.00 | +0.75% |
| Thu 8 Dec | $1,742.00 | $1,752.30 | $1,705.40 | $1,709.80 | −$31.10 | −1.79% |
| Fri 9 Dec | $1,713.30 | $1,720.70 | $1,705.70 | $1,712.80 | +$3.00 | +0.18% |
| Mon 12 Dec | $1,707.50 | $1,708.20 | $1,658.50 | $1,664.20 | −$48.60 | −2.84% |
| Tue 13 Dec | $1,654.70 | $1,671.80 | $1,628.00 | $1,659.90 | −$4.30 | −0.26% |
| Wed 14 Dec worst day | $1,636.50 | $1,639.50 | $1,565.80 | $1,584.30 | −$75.60 | −4.55% |
| Thu 15 Dec | $1,571.40 | $1,592.80 | $1,565.60 | $1,574.60 | −$9.70 | −0.61% |
| Fri 16 Dec | $1,587.40 | $1,595.90 | $1,586.00 | $1,595.60 | +$21.00 | +1.33% |
| Mon 19 Dec | $1,596.40 | $1,603.40 | $1,589.70 | $1,594.40 | −$1.20 | −0.08% |
| Tue 20 Dec | $1,596.40 | $1,617.00 | $1,596.40 | $1,615.60 | +$21.20 | +1.33% |
| Wed 21 Dec | $1,615.60 | $1,635.00 | $1,608.30 | $1,611.90 | −$3.70 | −0.23% |
| Thu 22 Dec | $1,608.80 | $1,610.00 | $1,601.90 | $1,608.90 | −$3.00 | −0.19% |
| Fri 23 Dec | $1,612.00 | $1,612.80 | $1,604.70 | $1,604.70 | −$4.20 | −0.26% |
| Tue 27 Dec | $1,599.00 | $1,599.00 | $1,592.60 | $1,594.20 | −$10.50 | −0.65% |
| Wed 28 Dec | $1,584.90 | $1,588.60 | $1,561.30 | $1,562.90 | −$31.30 | −1.96% |
| Thu 29 Dec | $1,559.30 | $1,559.30 | $1,525.00 | $1,539.90 | −$23.00 | −1.47% |
| Fri 30 Dec best day | $1,549.40 | $1,579.50 | $1,547.90 | $1,565.80 | +$25.90 | +1.68% |
Close = COMEX gold futures settlement in US dollars per troy ounce; change is against the previous trading day's close.
Monthly open, high, low and close
| December 2011 | Open | High | Low | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Settlements | $1,735.30 | $1,747.00 | $1,539.90 | $1,565.80 | −10.30% |
| Intraday | $1,747.00 | $1,762.90 2 Dec | $1,525.00 29 Dec | $1,565.80 | — |
Settlements: first, highest, lowest and last daily close of the month (the basis used on the 2011 page and the monthly returns heatmap). Intraday: the highest and lowest traded prices in the daily bars.
Source: COMEX gold futures (GC=F) daily settlements and intraday bars via Yahoo Finance; US CPI (FRED CPIAUCSL) for the inflation adjustment; World Bank Pink Sheet for the monthly London average. Figures are final settlements; sources may occasionally revise historical data.
Gold in December 2011: summary
Gold tumbled 10.30% in December 2011, from $1,745.50 at the end of November 2011 to $1,565.80 an ounce. Gold closed higher on 6 of 21 trading days and lower on 15; the strongest session was 30 December 2011 (+1.68%) and the weakest 14 December 2011 (−4.55%). Settlement prices ranged from $1,539.90 on 29 December 2011 to $1,747.00 on 2 December 2011, a spread of $207.10 (11.9%), wider than the 7.9% average of the previous 12 months.
On the monthly change, December 2011 was the worst December since 2000.
How December 2011 compares
- Against other Decembers: at −10.30%, December 2011 ranks 26th of 26 Decembers since 2000 (best first), the worst since 2000.
- Against every month: it ranks 308th of 313 months since September 2000, better than 2% of them.
- Range: the gap between the highest and lowest close was $207.10, or 11.9% of the opening level, 1.5× the 7.9% average of the previous 12 months.
- Daily moves: the average day moved 1.07% (up or down), against 0.91% over the previous 12 months, so December 2011 was more volatile than usual.
- Streaks: the longest run of higher closes was 1 day and the longest run of lower closes 6 days.
- Bigger picture: at the month-end close gold was +10.18% for 2011 to the end of December and +10.18% over 12 months (against the December 2010 close of $1,421.10).
- Average price: the mean of the 21 daily closes was $1,641.97; the World Bank's monthly average of the London (LBMA) price was $1,640.00.
Across the other 25 completed Decembers since 2000, gold averaged +1.92% and rose in 17 of them (68%). December 2011 lagged that average by 12.2 percentage points. The gold seasonality tool shows the same statistics for every calendar month, and the monthly returns heatmap lays out all Decembers side by side.
December 2011 in today's dollars
Adjusted for US consumer-price inflation, the $1,565.80 closing price equals about $2,317 in September 2026 dollars (CPI 227.2 in December 2011 against 336.3 in September 2026, FRED series CPIAUCSL), 48% more than the nominal figure. The gold price history hub restates every year's close on the same basis, and the all-time-high tracker lists every record close in nominal dollars.
Gold price by month in 2011
The gold price in 2011 page has the year's open, high, low and close, and the monthly archive on the gold price history hub explains how these month pages are built.
Frequently asked questions
What was the gold price in December 2011?
Gold closed December 2011 at $1,565.80 an ounce (COMEX settlement). It opened the month at $1,735.30 and averaged $1,641.97 across 21 trading days; the World Bank’s London average for the month was $1,640.00.
Did gold go up in December 2011?
No. Gold was down 10.30% in December 2011, from $1,745.50 at the end of November 2011 to $1,565.80. It closed higher on 6 of 21 days. Among Decembers since 2000 it ranks 26th of 26 (best first).
What was the highest gold price in December 2011?
The highest close was $1,747.00 on 2 December 2011. The highest intraday price in the daily bars was $1,762.90 on 2 December 2011.
What was the lowest gold price in December 2011?
The lowest close was $1,539.90 on 29 December 2011, $207.10 (11.9%) below the month’s highest close. The lowest intraday price was $1,525.00 on 29 December 2011.
Educational information only, not financial advice and not a forecast. Past prices do not predict future prices. See our risk disclaimer and editorial policy.