LONDON: Gold prices were weighed down by a stronger dollar on Tuesday, dropping for the third session, but were underpinned by political worries and uncertainty about this week’s huge US bond auctions.

The dollar continued its rebound from three-year lows as investors believed the currency was due an upward correction after a brutal sell-off in recent weeks.

US gold futures shed 1.1pc to $1,341.30 an ounce.

Spot gold is expected to fall to the next support level at $1,326, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.

Spot gold was down 0.6pc, its biggest one-day percentage fall in two weeks, at $1,338.86 an ounce by 1345GMT.

“Silver is on the defensive. The (gold/silver) ratio has stayed above 80 for relatively short periods, so from a historical perspective, silver looks cheap at this point,” Hansen said.

Palladium gave up 0.1pc to $1,031.80 an ounce, after rising to the highest since Feb 2 at $1,050 in the previous session.

Platinum rose 0.1pc to $1,003 an ounce after rising to a three-week high of $1,013.60 on Monday.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2018