Gold plummets on profit taking
Gold prices fell more than US$100 per ounce over the past two days as traders took profits following the latest record surge, which set a new all time high at US$1,917/oz and took its monthly gains to over US$300.
Today's positive durable goods orders data, which showed a 4 percent gain in July after a 1.3 percent decline in June, and optimism ahead of chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke's speech to an economic symposium on Friday increased appetite for riskier assets.
The markets are hopeful that Bernanke will hint at another round of quantitative easing on Friday in response to the weak economic data that came out this month, triggering a sell-off in equity markets around the globe.
Demand for gold strengthened in early August when Standard & Poor's decided to downgrade the US debt rating from AAA to AA-plus with a negative outlook.
Gold traded at US$1,777/oz this afternoon, US$52.5/oz below yesterday's close. Silver declined US$1.26/oz to US$40.54/oz and platinum slipped US$26 to US$1,837/oz.
Today's top risers in the sector were:
Caledonia Mining (LON:CMCL), up 18 percent at 6.8 pence at midday
Condor Resources (LON:CNR), up 13.5 percent at 5.82 pence
Norseman Gold (LON:NGL), up 11 percent at 27.4 pence
Greatland Gold (LON:GGP), up 8 percent at 1.7 pence
African Consolidated Resources (LON:AFCR), up 3.5 percent at 4 pence
The top fallers were:
Orsu Metals (LON:OSU), down 9.5 percent at 9.5 pence
Oxus Gold (LON:OXS), down 6 percent at 0.8 pence
Minco (LON:MIO), down 4.5 percent at 2.75 pence
Randgold Resources (LON:RRS), down 4 percent at 6,380 pence
Ariana Resources (LON:AAU), down 3 percent at 6.3 pence
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