New York gold drops 2 percent on session

Metals prices were lower in New York on Thursday.

December gold dropped $13.50, or 2 percent, to $672.80 per troy ounce, its biggest percent decline in two months.

Some are selling gold to cover losses brought on by the subprime crisis, while at least one analyst ventured the opinion that some central banks might be selling some of their gold in order to lower the price and calm investors.

September silver fell 46.5 cents, a decline of 3.5 percent, to $12.71 per troy ounce, while October platinum was $15.80 lower to trade at $1,275.30 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, copper dropped 8 cents to $3.36 per pound in New York, falling 2.3 percent to its lowest close since June 27th.

With London Metal Exchange inventories up again, the price of three-month copper in London fell $110 to $7,470 per tonne.