New York silver, gold and platinum continued their slide downward Wednesday following lower crude-oil prices, and moving opposite of the US dollar.

Oil was below $125 a barrel, mellowing inflation worries. The dollar gained against the euro.

Silver lost 54 cents to $17.46 an ounce.

Platinum continued its free fall, dropping to $1,760.80 an ounce for a daily loss of $47.40.

Gold closed to $922.80, losing $25.70 for the day. It’s lowest intraday mark was $922 an ounce.

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Ottawa, Ontario – With the Beijing Olympic Games and Beijing Paralympic Games just around the corner, the Royal Canadian Mint is proud to issue the 2008 Lucky Loonie, the latest in its extensive Olympic themed circulation coin program.

The one-dollar coin, which features the familiar loon landing in water and the official emblem of the Canadian Olympic Team, enters into circulation today.

"Canadians from coast to coast can wish our athletes luck by keeping special coins produced by the Royal Canadian Mint, including the 2008 Lucky Loonie," said Ian E. Bennett, President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint.

"The Mint has provided each member of the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Teams competing in Beijing with a Lucky Loonie as their own personal good luck charm and through the launch of the coin, Canadians also have an opportunity to own a piece of the Olympic dream."

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The U.S. Mint has announced this year’s uncirculated mint sets will be available Monday, July 30, for the price of $22.95. The 2008 United States Mint Uncirculated Coin Set® includes two folders of 14 coins each.

One folder contains coins minted in Philadelphia with the "P" mint mark and other folder has coins from Denver bearing the "D" mint mark.

The Mint describes uncirculated coin as:

“…struck on special presses using greater force than circulating coins, producing a sharp, intricately detailed image, and feature the satin finish introduced in 2005.”

As of last week, U.S. Mint provided figures show that 894,443 of the 2007 uncirculated sets have been sold. These will be available for purchase through the Mint until noon on July 30.

The price for the 2008 mint set is identical to last year’s set, and includes a total face value of $13.82 in change.

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