By Alden Bentley
NEW YORK, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Gold and silver fell in a short COMEX session Friday, but trading was calm as some lights came back on in New York City the day after North America's largest-ever blackout immersed much of the U.S. Northeast in steamy darkness.
While power returned sporadically, the New York Mercantile Exchange and its COMEX metals trading division operated normally with back-up power. But commuting from New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut was problematic, so metals trade opened 1-1/2 hours late at 10 a.m. for an abbreviated two-hour session.
"We're seeing nothing but a bit of liquidation on the floor in the silver. The whole trading floor is probably like a third full," said a dealer at a commercial bank in midtown.
"If they are here they'll want to get out of here, because if they are here they probably spent the night here," he said.
December gold closed at noon down $2.80 at $364.70 an ounce, touching $367.50 and $364.30.
Spot gold was last quoted at $363.20/3.90, down from the $365.50/6.20 close. London's last fix was $364.50.
The power went out just after New York financial markets closed on Thursday, causing no immediate disruption to trading but leaving millions in the eastern United States and Canada groping in the dark on one of the hottest nights of the year.
There was no panic buying of gold. Given New Yorkers recent memories of Sept 11, 2001, authorities late Thursday issued assurances that the massive power grid failure was not an act of terrorism.
Gold was already due for a correction before the weekend, after futures surged to a 17-day high at $368.80 on Thursday, threatening its July high near $370.
Bullishness has been mounting as investors sought sanctuary from a skidding bond market and Wall Street looked for more evidence that the economy was pulling out of its slump.
The whole gold sector has been shining, with the XAU and HUI Gold Bugs Index setting new highs this week.
But the gold price is more than $20 from the 6-1/2 year highs around $390 an ounce in February, when economic jitters were at a peak and the U.S. was building up for War in Iraq.
On the floor, the only problem was a minor disruption to telephone service, brokers said.
"With some of the phones up in Connecticut we couldn't get direct lines. Everything else was pretty much status quo," said one.
"We thought we'd see a little more volume. Everybody made it in and that's pretty surprising," he said.
September silver fell 10.8 cents to $4.927 in illiquid trade, moving from $5.045 to $4.88. Spot silver closed at $4.91/93, down from Thursday's $5.01/03. The fix was at $5.015 an ounce.
NYMEX October platinum rose $2.50 to $696.50 an ounce. Spot closed at $697.00/702.00.
Some made a connection between the blackout and platinum group metals demand, expecting more focus on alternative energy sources like fuel cells, which use platinum catalysts to create clean energy from hydrogen.
"I think the power outage and everything will probably help push the fuel cells as well," said one.
September palladium went up $2.85 to $183.00 an ounce. Spot palladium fetched $173.50/179.50.