Gold declined in London as some investors sold the metal after debt and slowdown speculation boosted prices to a record. Bullion is down 3 percent from the record $1,814.95 yesterday after CME Group Inc. raised margins on the futures traded in New York. Gains in equities also curbed demand for gold as an alternative asset. “The metal is in need of a period of consolidation to enable some much needed base building,” said James Moore, an analyst at thebulliondesk.com in London. Gold for immediate delivery fell $2.95, or 0.2 percent, to $1,761.15 an ounce at 10:06 a.m. in London. Prices are up 5.8 percent this week, heading for the biggest weekly gain since January 2009. The futures for December delivery jumped $11.40, or 0.7 percent, to $1,762.90 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Holdings of the metal in exchange-traded products fell yesterday by 23.6 metric tons, the most since Jan. 24, to 2,185.9 tons, data by Bloomberg show. Eleven of 20 traders, investors and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, or 55 percent, said bullion will rise next week. Seven predicted lower prices and two were neutral. Gold may top $2,000 an ounce on speculation that the global economy will weaken, Mitchell Krebs, chief executive officer of Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp., said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Coeur d’Alene, based in the city of the same name in Idaho, produces gold and silver. Platinum for immediate delivery rose $5.25, or 0.3 percent, to $1,793 an ounce, trading back above gold. The metal fell below gold on Aug. 8 for the first time since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008 that pushed the world into its worst recession since World War II. Silver fell 0.1 percent to $38.6675 an ounce and palladium declined 0.7 percent to $738.25 an ounce. To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Dreibus in London at tdreibus@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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