The British Government has carried out the second of a series of sales from its gold reserves, attracting further criticism from the opposition.

The Bank of England reported strong demand.

The 25 tonnes on offer attracted a higher price than expected - 255.75 dollars an ounce.

Athough that was more than five dollars an ounce less than at the first auction in July, analysts said they expected the price to drift upwards slightly.

The opposition Conservative Party called the sale a bungled operation, and said the programme of gold sales would cost Britain hundreds of millions of pounds.

Finance minister Gordon Brown announced in May that he wanted to reduce Britain's exposure to the gold price by selling off some of its gold reserves, which at that time stood at 715 tonnes.