THE Bank of England sold 20 tons of gold, or 643_200 ounces, at $280,00 a troy ounce on Wednesday. The scheduled sale, which came in a disorientated market after yesterday’s US terror attack, was 4,3 times oversubscribed, with a scaling factor of 61,3818% applied to the successful bids at $280,00, the Bank of England said. The auction attracted bids totalling 2,755,200 ounces. Immediately after the auction, spot gold was almost unchanged at $279.50/284.50. Eventually it rose and by 1124 GMT was indicated at $281.00/285.00. Before the sale, bullion dealers were reluctant to predict an auction price saying the market was still confused after the attacks but hoped that the sale would give some orientation to the market. The auction was number three in a final third series of sales under a plan to cut Britain’s gold reserves. – Reuters