The following are New York midsession prices and market updates for precious metals and copper:
GOLD
* Gold for June delivery falls $2.10 to $912.00 an ounce at 11:56 a.m. EDT (1556 GMT) on the COMEX division of New York Mercantile Exchange.
* Ranged from $905.80 to $919.70 -- which marked its highest price since April 1.
* Combination of dollar rise and sharply lower commodities prices, led by a drop of more than 3 percent in crude oil, triggered profit-taking in gold futures - traders.
* Prices rallied on Friday after China revealed it had secretly raised its gold reserves by three-quarters since 2003, increasing its holdings to 1,054 tonnes.
* Gold initially supported by weaker stock markets due to worries of the spread of a possible global pandemic after a flu virus has killed more than 100 people in Mexico and spreads to other parts of the world.
* Swine flu worries, however, only provided background support to gold for now, as financial markets did not appear to be very concerned - analysts.
* Number of short sellers increased as net long positions decreased and open interest climbed in the week up to April 21 - CFTC report. [ID:nN24452891]
* COMEX estimated 11 a.m. electronic futures volume at 48,330 lots. Floor volume was not available due to technical difficulties.
* Spot gold traded at $910.55 an ounce, down 0.1 percent from its late Friday quote in New York.
* The London afternoon gold fix was $907.50 an ounce.
SILVER
* COMEX May silver up 3.0 cents at $12.950 an ounce in a mixed session.
* Ranged between $12.855 and $13.240.
* COMEX estimated 11 a.m. futures volume at 12,123 lots.
* Spot silver was at $12.95 an ounce, up 0.9 percent from its previous finish.
* The London silver fix at $12.980 an ounce.
PLATINUM
* NYMEX July platinum down $34.00, or 2.9 percent, at $1,150.00 an ounce on demand worries due to uncertain future of U.S. automakers.
* General Motors on Monday said it would cut debt, close plants, slash jobs and drop the Pontiac brand as part of a sweeping restructuring that would see the automaker emerge under the ownership control of the U.S. government and its major union. [ID:nN27471653]
* Spot platinum at $1,142.50 an ounce, down 2.6 percent from its late Friday quote.
PALLADIUM
* June palladium down $6.45, or 2.7 percent, at $229.25 an ounce.
* Spot palladium was at $225.50 an ounce, down 2.4 percent from its previous finish.
COPPER
* Benchmark COMEX copper for July delivery slips 5.15 cents, or 2.5 percent, at $1.9985 a lb.
* Session range from a three-week low at $1.9505 to $2.0690.
* COMEX estimated electronic futures volumes at 14,775 lots by 11 a.m.
* COMEX copper under risk aversion liquidation pressure from swine flu's psychological effect upon the global economy and strengthening dollar - analysts.
* London Metal Exchange (LME) copper stocks fell by 4,275 tonnes to 425,275 tonnes on Monday.
* Canceled warrants grew to 67,600 tonnes on Friday -- about 16 percent of total stocks -- from 65,800 tonnes the previous session.
* COMEX copper stocks eased 9 short tons to 47,556 short tons as of Friday.
* COMEX net speculative short position in copper futures grew to 19,480 lots in week ended April 21, from 18,861 lots the previous week. Open interest slowed to 103,736 contracts in the week from 106,758 contracts in the week of April 14. [ID:nN24434177]
* LME copper for three-months delivery settled down $120 at $4,350 a tonne.
