Early Gold Rally Fades

Elsewhere, the European Central Bank says it sold 9 million euros of gold and receivables last week, or roughly just more than half a ton.

As for the miners, the Market Vectors Gold Miners(GDX Quote) ETF, which tracks a basket of precious-metals stocks, was losing 3.6% recently. Also declining were shares of Harmony Gold(HMY Quote), off 1.7%, and Goldcorp(GG Quote), lower by 6.2%.

Shares of miner Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold(FCX Quote) slipped in line with bullion, down 2.7%.

In base metals, copper fell 2 cents to $2.83 a pound on the Comex.

Elsewhere, Reuters reports that nickel prices reached record highs of $44,750 a ton for metal to be delivered in three months, up from $21,250 last June as supplies have become scarce. Stocks on the London Metal Exchange have dropped from more than 10,000 tons to under 4,000 during the same period.