Before yesterday's (Thursday) rise in bullion prices, precious metals were in corrective mode this week after recent rises. There were two big stand-out sales of gold contracts on Monday, estimated to be about 5,000 contracts at the European opening, and 15,000 on the US opening. The combination of the two sales drove gold down over $30, and on Tuesday a further sale of 15,000 contracts drove the price down to a low of $1293 for a total fall of $45.