Gold fell to a five-week low on speculation the Federal Reserve will slow stimulus next week and amid talks on a plan for Syria to surrender its chemical weapons. Silver headed for the biggest weekly drop since April. Gold slid 5.8 percent this week, the most since June 21, as the threat of an imminent U.S. attack on Syria eased. Russia is seeking an agreement that would make military action unnecessary, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said before a meeting in Geneva with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Syria called for the U.S. to drop its military threats. Bullion fell 22 percent this year as some investors lost faith in the metal as a store of value and on speculation the Fed will curb stimulus. Policy makers will cut monthly debt purchases to $75 billion from $85 billion at the Sept. 17-18 meeting, a Sept. 6 Bloomberg News survey showed. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said there’s a risk gold may drop below $1,000 an ounce, a level last reached in 2009. “The risk premium that was seen in gold seems to be fading now, after tensions with Syria eased,� analysts at Hyderabad, India-based Karvy Comtrade Ltd. wrote today in a report. “Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve this month may start to unwind its monetary stimulus� will pressure gold in the near term, they said. Gold for immediate delivery lost 0.9 percent to $1,309.42 an ounce by 9:52 a.m. in London. Prices reached $1,308.18, the lowest since Aug. 9. Bullion for December delivery slid 1.5 percent to $1,310.10 on the Comex in New York. Futures trading volume was 22 percent above the average for the past 100 days for this time of day, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Chemical Weapons The U.S. blames President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for an Aug. 21 chemical-weapons attack that it says killed more than 1,400 people. The diplomatic initiative by Russia has led President Barack Obama to put off moves toward military strikes even as he and other U.S. officials have said they are uncertain whether the talks will succeed. While debt-ceiling discussions in the U.S. and the Syrian crisis may support gold in the near term, prices will resume a decline into 2014, Jeffrey Currie, Goldman’s head of commodities research, said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. The metal may fall below the bank’s 2014 target of $1,050, he said. “We expect there will be volatility� before the Fed meeting, said David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney. “Investors are jumping out of the safe haven of gold.� ETP Holdings Holdings in gold-backed exchange-traded products fell 0.5 metric ton yesterday to 1,947.8 tons, near the three-year low set Aug. 8, data compiled by Bloomberg shows. Assets are heading for a second weekly decline after rising for three weeks through the end of August. Silver for immediate delivery slipped 1.2 percent to $21.5448 an ounce in London, after falling to $21.531, the lowest since Aug. 14. Prices are down 9.7 percent this week, the most since April. Platinum was 0.4 percent lower at $1,431.28 an ounce, after reaching $1,431.10, the lowest since Aug. 7. Palladium was little changed at $690.03 an ounce. To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net; Phoebe Sedgman in Wellington at psedgman2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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