LONDON (SHARECAST) - Gold fell Thursday as stock markets beat a retreat and the dollar rose against its major rivals, although talk Egyptian leader was about to step down narrowed the deficit. The April contract dropped $3 to $1,362.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, but had been closer to $1,351 earlier on. Silver, platinum and palladium all failed to make it back into the black, though copper did, ending the session with a 2 cent gain. Speculation that Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak was on his way out had helped oil prices, offsetting dollar strength. Crude for delivery in March rose 2 cents to $86.73 a barrel in New York, blissfully unaware that Mubarak has no plans to step down before September. The dollar improved against the major currencies Thursday, up 1% against the euro as Portuguese bond yields jumped to 7.6%, their highest since the euro’s creation, reviving sovereign debt concerns. There were also gains for the greenback versus the Japanese yen, helped by rising US bond yields, while sterling also dipped.

Source