Gold prices fell for a third straight session as equities rebounded worldwide, reducing the appeal of the precious metal as a haven from market turmoil. Silver climbed.
Stocks in Europe, Asia, and the US rose after the Federal Reserve and other central banks agreed to provide banks with unlimited dollar funds at fixed interest rates in an effort to ease the credit crunch. Last week, investment in the SPDR Gold Trust climbed to a record as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 18%, the most since 1933.
''A lot of the safe-haven buying we've seen has been ameliorated by the actions of the Fed,'' said Leonard Kaplan, the president of Prospector Asset Management.
Gold futures for December delivery fell $US16.50, or 1.9%, to $US842.50 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price dropped 5.2% in the previous two sessions. The metal rose to a record $US1033.90 on March 17.
The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, for three-month dollar loans fell to 4.75% from 4.82%, the British Bankers' Association said.
''As markets may recover from now to next March, the full sense of security will come back into the market, and people will not be that interested in gold,'' Marc Faber, the managing director of Marc Faber and the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
Price Swings
Wide price fluctuations may discourage investors from buying gold, some analysts said. The historical volatility of gold futures, or the rate at which a price moves up and down, was 48 percent in the past 10 days, compared with 30% a month earlier.
''This volatility will make it hard for investors attempting to profit from gold's upside to make money, although as a relic of last resort, gold continues to attract significant buying from investors,'' John Reade, a UBS metals strategist in London, said in a report.
SPDR Gold, the biggest exchange-traded fund backed by bullion, rose 4.1% last week to 770.6 metric tons, the highest ever.
''Gold will probably slip back this week, but I wouldn't dream of selling in this environment,'' said Adrian Day, president of Adrian Day Asset Management. Gold is ''about the only currency you can trust these days,'' he said.
Silver, which has wider industrial applications than gold, rose with demand for copper and other base metals.
Silver futures for December delivery rose 19 cents, or 1.8%, to $US10.79 an ounce. The price still has dropped 28% this year, while gold gained 0.5%.
