LONDON: Gold dropped to its lowest level in a month on Thursday, extending an earlier fall to below $1,300 an ounce as robust economic data from the United States, China and the euro zone deterred investors from buying into safe-haven assets.

Spot gold fell as much as 1 per cent to its lowest since June 19 at $1,290.40 an ounce and was down 0.8pc at $1,292.80 an ounce by 1425 GMT. US gold slid $12.40 to $1,292.30, after stop-loss orders were placed by traders below $1,300 to limit losses, prompting further selling.

Prices on the Shanghai Gold Exchange edged up to a premium of $3 to $4 an ounce to the global benchmark from about $1 to $2 on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, July 25th , 2014