February 8, 2006	Wednesday	Muharram 9, 1427

LONDON, Feb 7: Gold prices fell on Tuesday after attempting this week to breach a recent 25-year high, as a drop in oil prices and lack of fresh impetus prompted investors to book profits, dealers said.

Other precious metals also eased, with platinum trading $16 below its record level of $1,083 an ounce hit on Friday and silver quoting way below its recent 22-year highs.

We are just seeing a bit of sell off, said a precious metals dealer in London.

I don’t see any big correction coming shortly. It (selling) is not being done in a panic fashion. It’s being done rather in an orderly manner, he said, adding prices were expected to rise again this week.

Spot gold eased to $568.00/ 568.75 an ounce by 1042 GMT from $570.00/570.90 late in New York on Monday. Tensions over Iran’s nuclear ambitions had pushed gold to $574.60 last week, the highest since January 1981.

The benchmark contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange also fell 8 yen per gram to 2,231 yen ($18.76) as investors booked profits after pushing up the contract to an 18-year high of 2,242 on Monday.—Reuters