New York:
Gold fell to the lowest level in a month and a half as gains in the dollar and stock markets limited demand for havens.
The metal reached the lowest level since May 16 after ending its longest run of monthly gains since 2010 on Friday. The dollar rose against all other G-10 currencies and European stocks advanced for the first time in five days.
“Gold currently looks vulnerable,” UBS Group AG analyst Joni Teves said in a note. “Higher yields and market participants digesting a hawkish shift in tone among key central banks of late, while equities stay resilient around all-time highs,” are negative for the metal.
Gold for immediate delivery fell as much as 0.6 per cent to $1,233.58 an ounce, the lowest level since May 16. It traded at $1,233.89 by 11:43am in London, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The price dropped 2.2 per cent in June.
June and July are normally middling months for gold, with the metal typically rising by less than 1 per cent, compared with rising 3.9 per cent on average in Januaries over the past ten years, and falling about 1.5 per cent in March between 2007 and 2016.
In other gold market news, the Perth Mint reported falling sales in June with 19,259 ounces sold, down by more than a third from May. Meanwhile, Russia increased gold’s share in its international reserves in 2016 to 15 per cent from 12 per cent.
— Bloomberg