GOLD PRICES

Gold prices fell for the third day in a row Wednesday as grim news from Europe offset mildly encouraging economic news from the U.S.

Ghana will seek to boost revenues from its mining industry next year by hiking taxes, according to a text of the 2012 budget delivered to parliament on Wednesday.

Gold extended an earlier slide on Wednesday in its largest one-day fall this month as the escalating euro zone debt crisis kept the euro near one-month lows against the dollar, making it more attractive to non-U.S. investors to sell bullion.

Latin American gold production should increase more than 10 percent this year, Metals Economics Group said Wednesday.

Gold prices regained some early losses Wednesday after the European Central Bank intervened in the bond market to cap dangerously high yields on Italian, Spanish and French bonds.

Rising Chinese purchases of platinum jewelry will boost global demand for the metal to a two-year high in 2011, a British consultancy said Tuesday.

China's autocatalyst palladium demand growth is expected to slow as the auto sector cuts back on buyer incentives, refiner Johnson Matthey said on Tuesday.

Gold prices fell for a second day Tuesday on growing evidence that Europe's two-year sovereign debt crisis is spreading into the continent's core economies.

Gold closed slightly lower Monday as resurgent worries about Europe's finances drove investors to sell stocks and buy dollar-denominated assets, not including gold.

Gold prices fell Monday on tentative optimism the sovereign debts of Italy and Greece can be managed without crashing Europe's banking system.

Gold prices rode a roller-coaster this week, topping a peak midweek when the settled at $1,799.20 before plunging 2.2 percent over the next two days on fears Italy had lost control of its finances and was threatening the Eurozone's survival.

Claude Resources Inc. said Friday its third-quarter profit fell as a one-time loss on derivatives and lower production offset higher prices.

Osisko Mining reported a quarterly profit on Friday as production ramped up at its Canadian Malartic mine in Quebec and high gold prices boosted revenue.

Gold is returning to its traditional role as a safe-haven investment and starting to break its recent link with the stock market, UBS strategist Edel Tully said Friday.

Gold prices edged up Friday as a bump in sentiment about the Eurozone crisis encouraged a move into stocks and the continent's single currency.

Gold prices fell Thursday, their third consecutive daily decline, as investors facing margin calls sold the yellow metal to raise cash.

Gold has confounded market watchers by refusing to behave like a safe-haven and instead has tracked equities over the past few weeks, but the escalating European debt crisis could see bullion ditch its risk-asset mantle and return to record highs.

Vancouver-based Aurizon Mines Ltd. said Thursday its third-quarter profit rose dramatically as higher prices and output offset increased costs, more taxes and foreign exchange losses.

Gold Fields Ltd.'s third-quarter profit tripled from the year-earlier quarter as surging gold prices and enhanced efficiency offset higher operating costs, the world's fourth-largest gold miner reported Thursday.

Gold prices recouped big early losses Thursday to start Comex floor trading about one percent down as the U.S. dollar fell against the euro on hopes a new Italian and Greek governments may pave the way for Europe to avert a recession.

Gold prices slipped modestly Wednesday as stock investors in Europe and the U.S. dumped their holdings and abandoned the euro in a global stampede to safety.