Gold eases

LONDON - Gold surrendered its initial slim gains yesterday as the dollar clawed back some lost ground against the euro, with the metal still stuck in its narrowest monthly range since 2005.

Strong gains in stock markets, which have hit a series of record highs in recent months, have reduced investor appetite from gold which is often bought as an alternative to equities and other cyclical assets. Spot gold was at $1,293.81 an ounce at 1243

GMT, little changed from $1,293.61 late on Tuesday US gold futures for December delivery were down $1,20 at $1,293.70.

Gold reached a six-week high on Monday as the dollar hit its lowest since late September, but the metal fell short of the $1 300 an ounce level. Gold has traded between $1,265 and $1,300 throughout November.

“Low volatility tends to mean low volatility going forward, (and) you need something fairly major to shock things out of their ranges.”

“In terms of gold, you would need some kind of shock probably around inflation, or interest rates, or some major political event. But it does feel as though it’s going to be drifting into year-end.”

Gold has risen 12 percent this year, bouncing chiefly in the first quarter as it clawed back some of its losses posted towards the end of 2016 in the run-up to the second US interest rate increase in a decade. It is highly sensitive to rising US interest rates, which increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bulliony still managed to climb.”