Crude oil fell, reversing earlier gains on a forecast that Hurricane Gustav is unlikely to intensify in the Gulf of Mexico before striking land.

``The downside could be tested'' on gold, Narayan Gopalakrishnan, a Geneva-based trader at MKS Finance, one of Switzerland's four bullion refiners, said by phone. ``We are not seeing oil rallying.''

The metal for immediate delivery fell $3.97, or 0.5 percent, to $827.18 an ounce as of midday in London. Futures for December delivery were unchanged at $835.20 an ounce in after-hours electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators decreased their net-long positions in New York gold futures in the week ended Aug. 26, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

Speculative long positions, or bets prices will rise, outnumbered short positions by 105,279 contracts on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the Washington- based commission said in its Commitments of Traders report. Net- long positions fell by 7,087 contracts, or 6 percent, from a week earlier.

Platinum declined for the first time in four sessions, falling as much as $55, or 3.7 percent, to $1,431.50 an ounce. It traded at $1,448.75 as of noon in London. The metal reached a record $2,301.50 an ounce on March 4.

ETF Securities Ltd., a provider of contracts tracking commodities, said its platinum assets rose 1 percent on Aug. 29.

Platinum assets held by the company rose to 210,958 ounces from 208,899 ounces the previous day, according to data posted on the company's Web site.

Among other metals for immediate delivery, silver gained 6 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $13.67 an ounce and palladium declined $1, or 0.3 percent, to $305.50 an ounce.