July 26 (Bloomberg) -- Gold fell for a second day on signs that demand for the metal as an investment haven is slowing as the euro stabilizes against the dollar, after the European currency plunged last month during a sovereign-debt crisis. Most European banks passed stress tests designed to show their ability to withstand a financial crisis, lenders and regulators said July 23. The euro gained for a third day against the U.S. currency. Gold is trading 6.7 percent below the June 21 record of $1,266.50 an ounce. The metal also reached all-time highs in euros last month amid Europe’s debt crisis. “There are no horror stories out of Europe at the moment, so gold is in a holding pattern,” said Frank Lesh, a trader at FuturePath Trading LLC in Chicago. “The traders are quick to take their profits and just as quick to get back in.” Gold futures for August delivery fell $6, or 0.5 percent, to $1,181.80 an ounce at 10:31 a.m. on the Comex in New York. The metal was little changed last week. Dennis Gartman, an economist and the editor of the Suffolk, Virginia-based Gartman Letter, advised clients to reduce holdings of gold to an “insurance” position. Gartman had advocated selling euros and buying gold earlier this year as some European countries struggled with their budget deficits. “Those who wish to hold their gold positions, against our wishes, should keep a very wary eye on the euro,” Gartman said in his newsletter. Gold may continue to trade between $1,175 and $1,205 this week, said Leonard Kaplan, the president of Prospector Asset Management in Evanston, Illinois. “Gold seems to be locked in a trading range, and it’s been here for weeks,” Kaplan said. Silver, Platinum Silver futures for September delivery fell 2.6 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $18.075 an ounce on the Comex. Platinum futures for October delivery rose $7.60, or 0.5 percent, to $1,550.40 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where palladium futures for September delivery rose $6, or 1.3 percent, to $472.75 an ounce. Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., the world’s second-largest producer of the metal, faces a strike by more than 18,000 workers after talks to resolve a pay dispute failed, South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers said. Members will vote tomorrow on whether to strike, the union’s spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said by phone today. --With assistance by Nicholas Larkin in London. Editors: Steve Stroth, Patrick McKiernan. To contact the reporter on this story: Pham-Duy Nguyen in Seattle at pnguyen@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net

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