Metal holds fort in Asia

Gold was little changed in Asia on Tuesday amid uncertainty over the impact of possible sales of the precious metal by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The gold for immediate delivery fell 70 cents, or 0.1 per cent to $922.80 an ounce while silver added 0.2 per cent to $17.52 an ounce at 2:49 pm Singapore time.

Group of seven officials, who met in Tokyo at the weekend, said they supported sales of gold from IMF reserves as part of its budget reforms. IMF is the third-largest holder of gold reserves behind the US and Germany.

IMF has 3,217 tonnes of gold in reserves, according to the World Gold Council.

The IMF news ``had a mild tempering influence on the gold price,'' David Moore, commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney, said in a report on Tuesday.