LONDON: Gold fell to a nine-month low on Tuesday as the dollar climbed, with the metal set to post its sharpest monthly loss since June 2013 and the first quarterly loss this year on expectations of further gains in the US currency.

Cash prices touched their lowest since Jan 1 at $1,204.40 an ounce and although managing to recoup earlier losses, the metal is still down about 5.5 per cent for the month and heading for a quarterly drop of 8pc.

Spot gold was trading unchanged at $1,215.80 an ounce at 1429 GMT, erasing losses after lower-than-expected US data. US gold futures lost $2.40 to $1,216.20 an ounce.

“The bottom line is that the dollar will continue to appreciate against the euro quite significantly in the next couple of months until the end of next year and this will see gold prices fall,” Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann said.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2014