The price for an ounce of gold shed $8.60 or 0.53 percent to settle at $1,603.60 Tuesday on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver prices lost 18 cents or 0.62 percent to close at $28.74 an ounce. The dollar index fell 0.4 percent to 82.84 on the International Exchange. Against the dollar, the euro was at $1.2935 from Tuesday\'s $1.2883. Against the yen, the dollar was higher at 96 yen from 95.17 yen.