LONDON: Gold slid below key support at $1,200 an ounce for the first time in a month on Tuesday as concerns over Italy’s budget and ongoing Brexit talks, along with expectations for further US rate hikes, held the dollar near 16-month highs.

Dollar’s strength has outweighed any positive impact of risk aversion on gold, traditionally also seen as a safe store of value in times of market volatility.

Stock markets recovered some lost ground after the previous day’s tech-led losses, meanwhile, potentially diverting interest from alternative assets like bullion.

Spot gold was down 0.2 per cent at $1,197.77 per ounce at 1049 GMT, having fallen to its lowest since Oct 11 at $1,195.90 earlier in the day. US gold futures fell 0.5pc at $1,198.00 per ounce.

The metal posted its biggest weekly drop since August last week after the US Federal Reserve reaffirmed its commitment to tightening monetary policy, a move likely to weigh on interest in non-yielding bullion.

Among other precious metals, silver was up 0.3pc at $14.00 per ounce, having touched a more than two-month low of $13.92 earlier in the session. Palladium climbed 0.7pc to $1,103.50 per ounce, while platinum rose 0.3pc to $843.60 an ounce.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018