NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Barrick Gold Corp. on Friday fell as the price of gold sank and an analyst downgraded the world's largest gold producer.

Barrick Gold shares slid $1.14, or 3.4 percent, to $32.18 in Friday morning trading, off 41 percent from its 52-week high of $54.74.

Gold prices dropped $9.80 to $850.80.

Heather Douglas, an analyst with Thomas Weisel Partners, downgraded the company's rating to "Market Weight" from "Overweight" due to gold price volatility that could hurt funding for several of Barrick's large capital projects and pipeline. Douglas said without these projects production could decline 18 percent by 2012-2015.

However, despite the challenging price environment, Douglas still sees strength in the industry and lifted Barrick's price target to $37 from $34.