New York precious metals tumble as funds take profits

New York (Platts)--10Jul2006

Precious metals prices have been heading downward since the opening on
the New York exchanges Monday, as the funds sold off some of their long
positions to take profits and position themselves for new investment
opportunities, according to trade sources. Gold, silver, platinum and
palladium have all suffered significant losses.

The nearby August gold futures contract on the COMEX fell $7.50 to
$627.30/oz at 10:04am EDT (14:04 GMT) and the September silver contract
declined by 26.5 cents to reach $11.14/oz. On the NYMEX, the October platinum
contact fell $11.70 to $1,232/oz at its most recent trade at 9:48am and
September palladium plunged $12.15 to $317/oz at 9:29am EDT.

Most of the decline in precious metals occurred during the Asian trading
hours, one analyst said. "There was some good scaled-down selling overnight,"
he said, adding that one trader who had been actively buying palladium in
recent weeks was a major seller.

The markets are now range-bound and could face periods of upswings
followed by profit taking for the remainder of the summer, the analyst added.

--Ovid Abrams; ovid_abrams@platts.com

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