Gold futures fell on Tuesday after the dollar gained against major currencies and the International Monetary Fund approved a plan to sell more than 14.2 million ounces of its gold reserves to narrow the lender's financial shortfall.

Gold for June delivery fell $8.80 to end at $918 an ounce on the Comex division on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In the previous trading session, the precious metal closed up $13.60 at $926.80 an ounce.

In currency markets, the dollar gained against major counterpart after the National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index was down 21.4 percent in February from its year-ago level.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback, was up 0.1 percent to 72.28.

The IMF's board yesterday approved a plan to sell 403.3 metric tons of gold as it moves to cut substantial costs as part of an efficiency drive. The structure of the sales would be similar to the current Central Bank Gold Agreement, which limits transactions to 500 metric tons each year.

Also on the Nymex, May silver futures fell 41 cents to $17.71 an ounce and July platinum dropped $17.30 to $2,029.60 an ounce.

June palladium futures was down 25 cents at $457.40 an ounce. May copper declined 9 cents to $3.89 a pound.

Barrick Gold Corp fell 3.2 percent, Goldcorp Inc lost 3 percent while Newmont Mining Corporation dropped 0.8 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

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