LONDON, March 17: Gold prices weakened in Europe on Monday as expectations grew that a likely US-led war on Iraq would be short, traders said.

Gold is traditionally seen as an insurance policy by investors in times of trouble and the metal has been branded by some traders as a “war commodity”.

“We are clearly moving into the final throes of all this. It was weeks, then days and now hours. Gold is a very sensitive barometer, but at the moment it’s just backing off and not doing anything,” said Kevin Crisp, precious metals analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.

Spot gold ended the European session at $336.00/336.80 an ounce, down from $336.10/336.90 at Friday’s close in New York.

Traders and analysts were bracing for sharp price movements in either direction, although many were looking for a further sell-off—Reuters