GOLD

Gold prices held steady on Friday as investors stood on the sidelines ahead of a key U.S. payrolls report due later in the day, after recent data sent mixed signals about the status of the world's largest economy.

Europe's most indebted nations are under heavy pressure from their richer neighbors to sort out their finances, but they are unlikely to mimic the impoverished gentlefolk of old by selling off the family silver -- or in their case, gold -- to do so.

Some of the world's richest families are cutting their holdings in gold to take profits on the run-up in prices and are buying high-end art to preserve their wealth during market turmoil, an executive advising these families.

Gold prices held steady Friday as investors stood on the sidelines ahead of a key U.S. payrolls report due later in the day

The value of palladium, the least known of the world's four major precious metals, is set to rise this year, perhaps more sharply than its more popular cousins.

Gold prices slipped a bit Thursday as a stronger dollar and signs that the U.S. economy is growing and avoiding a double-dip recession.

Insatiable demand for safe haven U.S. government bonds is helping mask a potentially huge financial problem -- the need to extend the maturity of debt issued by the United States.

Stocks gained on Thursday after data showed factory activity cooled in August but was still expanding, easing investors' fears the economy could be headed for another recession.

Gold fell Thursday on indications from both sides of the Atlantic that economic activity was picking up, a development that encouraged investors to leave various so-called safe-having investments like gold and Treasuries for the promise of equities.

Romania's top environmental official objected Thursday to plans for a huge gold mine that recently received a key governmental approval, but the head of the mining venture responded by saying his project's environmental standards will be among the highest in the world.

AuRico Gold is having a difficult time escaping the image of being a miner more prone to delivering disappointment than gold bars.

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday it had reached a two-year wage deal with ALS, a contractor working at Harmony Gold's Kalgold mine.

The Shanghai branch of British bank Barclays has won approval to become a trading member of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, the seventh foreign financial institute to obtain such membership, said the exchange on its Web site.

Gold prices recovered some early losses on Thursday after European stock markets fell, snapping a three-day rally, and as investors weighed up the prospect of a fresh round of quantitative easing from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Australia's Adamus Resources said on Thursday it expects a friendly takeover by Canada's Endeavour Mining Corp to be completed in early November, creating a West Africa-focused company producing a quarter million ounces of gold annually by 2013.

Golden Predator Corp. acquired the Livingstone district in the Canada's Yukon, raising its land holdings in the region by about 43 percent.

Asian stocks rose on Thursday following gains on Wall Street, with technology and consumer shares outperforming, and credit spreads tightened on optimism central banks around the world will have to do more to support industrial activity.

Gold and silver prices closed modestly higher on the futures markets Wednesday as strong demand from foreign buyers offset expectations that the Federal Reserve will signal fresh, potentially inflationary, intervention in the market next month.

Australia-based gold mining company Gold One International Ltd., which operates in South Africa, said Wednesday it expects to meet its goal of doubling its gold production this fiscal year.

Global demand for gold lifted the price of the yellow metal Wednesday, countering a growing appetite for risk among U.S. investors, many of whom expect the Federal Reserve to come to the aid of the U.S. economy, perhaps as early as September.

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers said Wednesday it overwhelmingly accepted a wage offer from Anglo Platinum that boosts pay rates by as much as 10 percent.

Silvercorp Metals Inc., a Vancouver-based mining company, said Wednesday it purchased 2,027,167 of its common shares at an average price of $8.112 (Canadian).

Toronto-based IAmGold Corp. said Wednesday it received $34.2 million for the sale of its Mupane Gold Mine in Botswana to Galane Gold Ltd

Gold and silver prices Wednesday hovered near their previous day's closing prices as traders sorted through a mix of positive and negative economic news.

Gold fell on Wednesday after a near 3 percent rally the day before sparked by Federal Reserve comments on possible measures to boost U.S. growth, and the bullion price is still set for its biggest monthly gain in nearly two years.

Gold's high price spurs private individuals to sell jewelry and other personal items made of the yellow metal.

Gold and bonds surged on Tuesday and U.S. stocks rebounded in choppy trade as a recovery in risk appetite among some investors was countered by bearish economic news.

Gold prices jumped 2 percent Tuesday and silver surged 2.1 percent as some investors opted for the safety of precious metals and Treasuries amid continued worries about Europe's sovereign debt crisis and weakness in the American economy.

Gold and gold receivables held by euro zone central banks fell by 4 million euros to 363.248 billion euros in the week ending Aug. 26, the European Central Bank said Tuesday.