LONDON: Gold fell more than 1 per cent to a five-year low on Wednesday as a bounce in the dollar fuelled downside momentum, with investors continuing to pull away from the metal after its dramatic slide earlier this week.

Holdings in the world’s biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares, fell for a fourth day on Tuesday by another 4.8 tonnes, hitting their lowest since 2008. Its reserves have nearly halved from their 2012 peak.

Spot gold was down 1pc at $1,090.70 an ounce at 1400 GMT, while US gold futures for August delivery were down $14.50 an ounce at $1,089.00. Earlier, spot prices touched their lowest since March 2010 at $1,087.04 an ounce.

Gold’s decline on Wednesday picked up momentum after the dollar moved into positive territory against a basket of currencies.

Spot platinum was down 1.1pc at $966.74 an ounce, while palladium was down 1.7pc at $615, both trading near multi-year lows. Silver was down 1pc at $14.68 an ounce.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2015

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