Gold Price On the Fall

Gold prices in New York fell for the second straight day as investors sold the precious metal for profit after a six-week rally to a 17-year high.

Before this week, gold had rallied 10 percent priced in U.S. dollars, 12 percent in yen and 11 percent in euros since Aug. 30, the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region, boosting energy costs and stoking concern over inflation. The rally triggered the longest speculative positions since at least February 1983.

Gold for December delivery fell $2.80, or 0.6 percent, to $473.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.