Gold, Silver Drop on Bets Global Slump to Cut Commodity Demand

By Pham-Duy Nguyen

Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Gold fell for the first time this week on speculation that a global economic slump will reduce demand for commodities. Silver also declined.

Morgan Stanley cut its forecast for gold prices by 5 percent, estimating that the metal will average $900 an ounce this year and $950 in 2009. Before today, gold gained 8.8 percent this week as investors sought a haven from plummeting equities.

``A lot of the speculative money is off to the sidelines,'' said Marty McNeill, a trader at R.F. Lafferty Inc. in New York. ``Gold is a victim of deleveraging. Eventually, it will do better than other commodities because it will hold its value.''

Gold futures for December delivery fell $17, or 1.9 percent, to $889.50 at 9:55 a.m. on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price rose to a record $1,033.90 on March 17.



Silver futures for December delivery dropped 8.7 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $11.685 an ounce. Before today, the price dropped 21 percent this year.

The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials has dropped 34 percent from a record in July as energy, agricultural and industrial-metal prices slid.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pham-Duy Nguyen in Seattle at pnguyen@bloomberg.net.