Gold prices fall on dollar strength

Precious metals prices were lower Wednesday, with gold falling on a stronger US dollar and on declines in oil prices.

The dollar was helped by durable goods orders that were up 4.9 percent in July and new home sales there were 9.6 percent higher during the month, as reported by the US Commerce Department.

Transportation equipment orders buoyed durable goods orders with a gain of 18.4 percent, but even excluding those, new orders were up by 0.8 percent in July while durable goods inventories fell by 0.8 percent during the same period.

The gains in home sales and durable goods orders were seen as a sign that the US economy is beginning to recover.

December gold was 20 cents lower to $945.80 per troy ounce in New York trade while December silver was down 6 cents to $14.29 per troy ounce and October platinum dropped $9.40 to $1,238.40 per troy ounce even though workers at a South African platinum mine remained on strike over wages.

Earlier, in mid-morning trade, the price for September palladium dropped $3.15 to $285.65 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, December copper traded about even at $2.88 per pound.