Singapore (Platts)--5Mar2008

The spot price of gold in Hong Kong Wednesday slipped below $970/oz to
open significantly lower at $965.50-966/oz, compared with Tuesday's close of
$981.50-982/oz.

Spot gold suffered a sharp fall during the New York trading session
Tuesday mainly due to weaker oil prices, traders said. April crude futures on
NYMEX were trading below the $100/barrel level late Tuesday with a sharp
selloff in equities encouraging long liquidation after a $7/barrel run-up in
prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down as much as 210 points as
ongoing concerns that the housing and credit crisis had yet to fully play out
sent equity markets plummeting, industry sources said.

Spot gold was rangebound in Asia Wednesday morning. "Some market
participants were selling in reaction to the sharp fall in gold prices seen in
New York trade while others saw it as an opportunity to buy on fears of a
possible recession in the US," he added. He, however, said he would remain
optimistic that gold will continue its upward trend after this brief
correction.