COMEX gold fell Tuesday morning, then steadied on weak US economic figures after safe-haven purchases were ditched on newspaper reports that Sundays increased US terror threat level was partly based on information obtained from al Qaeda years ago.
Dealers said gold was coming back to a more neutral position after failing to hold gains on Tuesday after Washington ratcheted up the national terror threat level to "high," citing intelligence that extremists had placed specific buildings in New York, New Jersey and Washington under surveillance to map out attacks on major financial institutions.
December gold at 9:28 am EDT (1328 GMT) was down $2.10 at $392.30 an ounce, trading from $395.20 to $391.20. Dealers said the contract cut losses after the Commerce Department reported June US consumer spending fell 0.7 percent, versus a 1.0 percent gain in May.
Personal income rose just 0.2 percent following Mays 0.6 percent rise, providing further evidence that the economy went through a soft spell at the end of the second quarter.
"There is still some concern about this terrorist activity and we've got the oil markets that are expected higher this morning," said James Quinn, commodities commentator at A.G. Edwards.
"Were more subjected to outside influences, than we are to supply/demand. It more currency sensitive, maybe a little oil sensitive, and the volume is less than moderate."
Spot gold was at $391.10/60, down from the close at $391.90/2.40. The morning fix in London was $390.60.
COMEX September silver was off 1.0 cent at $6.61 an ounce, recouping sharp morning losses in a $6.48 to $6.63 range. Spot silver was quoted $6.58/60, up from 6.56/58 late Monday. The fix was $6.50.
NYMEX October platinum was $2.80 easier at $823.50 an ounce. Spot platinum was quoted at $823.00/828.00.
September palladium was down $3.40 at $215.50 an ounce. Spot palladium fetched $213.00/218.00 an ounce.