Perth Mint's Oct Gold, Silver Sales Drop

Perth-Australia (Nov 1)  Sales of gold and silver products by the Perth Mint fell in October, the mint said on Thursday. Sales of gold coins and minted bars dropped 41 percent from September to 36,840 ounces, the mint said in a blog post. Gold sales in October fell more than 17 percent from the year-ago period.

Silver sales were down 17 percent from September to 1,079,684 ounces.

From a year earlier, sales rose 8 percent. The Perth Mint refines more than 90 percent of newly mined gold in Australia, the world's second-largest gold producer after China.

Spot gold gained about 2 percent in October, ending a six-month long run of losses, the longest such streak since a period from August 1996 to January 1997, helped by intense stock market volatility.

Reuters