NEW YORK, Oct 24 ( Reuters ) - COMEX and NYMEX precious metals futures were expected to open lower Friday after a group of experts appointed by Swiss National Bank and Swiss finance ministry proposed selling 1,400 tonnes of gold as part of an effort to take the country off the gold standard.
COMEX December gold was called down $2.00 from Thursday's close of $324.70 an ounce after trading from $321.30 to $325.00 on ACCESS.
The London gold fix lost $2.40 on the news, but floor traders in New York were bracing themselves for larger losses.
''You make an announcement like that and what do you think is going to happen? The Swiss probably left $10 million on the table by making this announcement,'' quipped one floor trader.
''According to all the experts, there should be no significant erratic indluence on gold prices from a cautious and phased sale,'' Finance Ministry director Ulrich Gygi tolf a news conference.
The sale would leave the bank with 1,190 tonnes remaining in its reserves.
In other news, Taiwan's central bank is unlikely to liquidate its gold reserves to protect against its dollar, Taipai traders said Friday, despite rumors to the contrary that circulated a month ago.
In the bullion market, spot gold was $320.50/$1.00 an ounce, compared with the early London fix, which was $321.90 an ounce, and the New York close, which was $323.40/90 an ounce.
The one-month implied lease rate was 2.78 percent, while the one year rate was 2.65 percent.
COMEX gold warehouse stocks were off 33,738 ounces to 777,206 ounces in Thursday's report, while COMEX silver stocks were unchanged at 133,901,501 ounces.
COMEX December silver was called to open down 3.0 to 4.0 cents from Thursday's close of $4.938 an ounce.
NYMEX January platinum was called to open down $4.00 to $5.00 from its previous close of $422.90 an ounce, while NYMEX December platinum was called to open $3.00 lower from Thursday's close of $203.45 an ounce.
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