LONDON: Gold rose above $1,300 an ounce on Monday as global shares weakened and political tensions simmered after the downing of a Malaysian airliner in eastern Ukraine last week and incessant fighting in Gaza.

Spot gold was up 0.2 per cent at $1,313.00 an ounce by 1427 GMT, while US gold futures for August delivery were up 0.3pc at $1,313.10 an ounce.

Gold jumped 1.4pc last Thursday as some investors sought protection against any drop in equities after news of the loss of the Malaysian passenger plane.

But participants quickly banked profits the following day, contributing to a 2pc weekly fall in prices, the first in seven weeks.

In a measure of investor sentiment, holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 1.8 tonnes to 805.14 tonnes on Friday.—Reuters

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2014