NEW YORK/LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) – Gold eased from the
previous session’s three-week high on Wednesday, reflecting some
investor optimism that the crisis in Cyprus may not spread
further in the euro zone.

Investors were also seen holding to the sidelines amid the
U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy-setting meeting, from which a
communique was due around 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT).

NEW YORK/LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) – Gold reversed earlier
losses on Tuesday, hitting a 2-1/2 week high above $1,615 an
ounce on renewed flight-to-safety investment before an
anticipated vote by the Cyprus parliament on a bailout plan.
The parliament was set on Tuesday to reject an unpopular tax
on bank deposits, a government spokesman said, a move that would
push the island closer to a default and banking collapse.

Spot gold reached its highest since Feb. 26 at
$1,615.16 an ounce and was last seen at $1,612.01, still up 0.45
percent by 1331 EDT/1558 GMT. U.S. gold futures for April
delivery were up $6.80 an ounce at $1,611.40. In euro terms
, gold peaked at its highest since February 07 at
1,256.50.
The euro zone proposal, unveiled at the weekend, to
partially fund a bailout of the island by taxing bank deposits
rattled financial markets and pushed gold higher as risk averse
investors chose it as a haven.
The metal had struggled to retain those gains and started
the day by falling to a session low of $1,599.54, as
cautiousness prevailed on concerns over the plan.
Deutsche Bank precious metals trader Michael Blumenroth said
holders of short positions “got nervous and started to cover
their positions.”
In wider markets, the euro edged back towards the previous
session’s three-month low versus the dollar, while European and
U.S. stocks mostly steadied above earlier lows as investors used
the two-day decline as an opportunity to pick up beaten down
shares.
While gold tends to benefit from rising risk aversion if
investors choose the metal as a safe store of value, it has also
moved closely in line with stocks and the euro this year.

NEW YORK, March 15 (Reuters) – Gold finished higher on
Friday, marking its second straight weekly gain, as the euro
firmed, U.S. and European shares fell and the U.S. consumer
price report supported the view that the Federal Reserve has
leeway to keep up its monetary easing.

U.S. consumer price data recorded the largest increase in
nearly four years in February, as the cost of gasoline surged.
Excluding food and energy, however, the gain was only 0.2
percent, slower than January’s 0.3 percent pace.

NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) – Kentucky state lawmakers are
set to decide whether to let U.S. aluminum producer Century
Aluminum Co buy power on the open market in its bid to
save its money-losing smelter in the Bluegrass state from
closure.

With metal prices low and production costs high, U.S.
aluminum producers struggle with razor-thin margins. In its
attempt to cope, Century has taken the dramatic step of pushing
for legislation that would exempt smelters from a state law
requiring consumers to take power from only one supplier.

NEW YORK, March 8 (Reuters) – U.S. orange juice futures
soared on Friday to their highest level in 2-1/2 months after
the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report showing a
2.0 million box drop in its monthly outlook for this year’s crop
in Florida, the top growing state.

Juice futures surged before the data release in anticipation
of the crop drop and then continued their rally on expectations
that USDA will cut their projections further in future months.

NEW YORK, March 1 (Reuters) – U.S. juice futures tumbled 5
percent, their biggest drop for the year, in a rash of
speculative and technical selling on Friday, as traders awaited
a government crop report that would reveal the damage to citrus
groves by disease and adverse weather.

After two weeks of uneven moves, frozen concentrated orange
juice’s most-active March contract on New York’s ICE fell
to a one-month low of $1.20, before recovering to trade above
$1.21 by 1:30 E.T. (1830 GMT).

LONDON, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Gold prices extended losses on
Friday to more than two percent when it broke below a key chart
support level at $1,600 an ounce to its lowest level since
August, after earlier declines triggered technically-driven
selling.
Softer appetite for the precious metal from investors and a
dearth of physical demand from China during the Lunar New Year
holiday put the metal on track to slip 3 percent this week, its
biggest weekly drop since June.
Spot gold hit a low of $1,598.04 an ounce, its
weakest since Aug. 16, and was at $1,603.70 by 1555 GMT, down
1.83 percent. U.S. gold futures for April delivery were
off $31.7 an ounce at $1,603.80, a 1.93 percent drop.
“The 1,625 level was a big support and once that was broken,
stop-selling orders kicked off and now we are in a new range of
$1,550 to $1,625,” said Adrien Biondi, head of precious metals
trading at Commerzbank.
Sell stops are automatic technical selling signals that
start after prices break through key support levels, which allow
traders to limit losses in a falling market.
Losses in the euro also pressured the metal. The single
currency remained in negative territory against the dollar after
data showing manufacturing in New York state expanded in
February for the first time in seven months.
Gold investment has softened this year on signs that
economies such as the United States and China are picking up,
while continued problems of sovereign debt and economic weakness
in Europe seem to be priced in by the market.
“The market now seems to be getting used to the more
positive frame of mind of a recovering U.S. (economy) – which
entails lower probability of continued QE and in turn a lower
gold price,” MKS Capital said in a note.
The next focus for the market remains a G20 meeting and
ensuing statement, which could affect broader markets by giving
more clues on currencies.
“(The Group of 20) will try to put the ‘currency wars’
discussion to rest,” MKS added. “Given the uncertainty around
the meeting’s results, (there could be) volatility… next
Monday.”
The physical market was again subdued in Asia. Chinese
players, however, were expected to take advantage of the lower
prices to replenish stocks when they return from their week-long
public holiday for the Lunar New Year celebrations.
“With prices coming lower, all the physical buyers will
start covering some of the shorts and maybe some investors will
come around as well,” Commerzbank’s Biondi said.

SOROS CUTS STAKE IN SPDR, PAULSON HOLDS
Investment interest in gold has suffered in recent months
after the latest monetary easing measures from the Federal
Reserve failed to push prices above $1,800 an ounce, and as U.S.
economic data took on a firmer tone.
Data released on Thursday showed billionaire investor George
Soros had cut his holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the
world’s largest gold exchange-traded fund, by more than half in
the fourth quarter, while GLD’s biggest shareholder John Paulson
left his holdings unchanged.
A few others also cut exposure to gold, including investment
fund PIMCO and Tiger Management’s Julian Robertson, who
dissolved his entire stake in Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF.
The SPDR’s holdings fell 0.23 percent on Thursday from
Wednesday, while those of the largest silver-backed ETF, New
York’s iShares Silver Trust, rose 0.26 percent during the
same period.
In other precious metals, platinum and palladium
gave up gains made at the start of the week and followed
the rest of the complex lower.
Spot platinum declined to a two-week low of $1,668 an ounce
and was later seen at $1,672.99 an ounce, down 2 percent.
Palladium was down 1.6 percent to $750.97, retreating from a new
best since September 2011 at $775 hit on Wednesday.
Spot silver fell to a five-week low of $29.87 an
ounce, before settling at $30, still down 1.3 percent.

Feb 12 (Reuters) – Novelis Inc, the world’s
largest producer of rolled aluminum products, reported a
quarterly profit on Tuesday after a year-earlier loss, but said
production disruptions linked to a new software system held back
results.

The company, a unit of India’s HindalCo Industries Ltd
, said the transition to a new enterprise resource
planning (ERP) system in North America led to lost shipments,
lower productivity and higher costs in its fiscal third quarter,
ended Dec. 31.

NEW YORK, June 29 (Reuters) – Doe Run Co has canceled plans
to build a primary lead smelter in Missouri and will push ahead
with the closure of its Herculaneum plant, the last primary lead
smelter in the United States, by the end of next year, it said
on Friday.

The St Louis, Mo. -based company has abandoned plans for a
new smelter, which would have replaced Herculaneum when it
closes at the end of 2013, because it did not make financial
sense.

NEW YORK, June 15 (Reuters) – Doe Run Company President and
Chief Executive Bruce Neil will retire as of July 31 and will be
replaced by Jerry Pyatt, vice president and chief operating
officer, the privately held U.S. lead producer said on Friday.

Pyatt will take over as president and CEO on August 1, the
company said in a statement.