LONDON: Gold lost ground on Monday, moving closer to last week’s 5-1/2 year lows below $1,100 per ounce, with expectations for a near-term US interest rate hike seen keeping momentum firmly with the bears.

Spot gold was down 0.5 per cent at $1,092.90 an ounce by 1158 GMT, after falling for a fifth straight week last week, the longest slide since late 2012. US gold for August delivery was up 0.6pc at $1,092 an ounce.

Holdings of the world’s biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, also fell for a seventh day on Friday to 21.87 million ounces, the lowest since September 2008.

Spot palladium fell 0.2pc to $621.25 an ounce and platinum lost 0.7pc to $975.74. Silver was down 0.5pc at $14.56.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2015

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