Gold falls

BENGARULU. — Gold fell yesterday as investors locked in gains from the metal’s biggest one-day rally in six weeks, posted after a string of high-profile arrests in Saudi Arabia sent oil to a 2-1/2 year high, and the Dollar and United States Treasury yields sank.

Spot gold was down 0,4 percent at $1 276,81 an ounce at 1050 GMT, while the US gold futures for December delivery were $4,30 an ounce lower at $1 277,30.

The metal rallied sharply in New York trading on Monday to end the day up nearly 1 percent, erasing losses made in earlier trading and throughout the previous session.

The Saudi-led jump in the oil price, a drop in the US Dollar and jitters linked to US President Donald Trump’s trip to the Far East all conspired to push gold prices higher, MKS’ head of trading Afshin Nabavi said.

However, it was struggling to maintain those gains, he added and stuck broadly within the $20 range of the past two weeks. “It is only going with oil and the US dollar,” he said. “Gold is not providing any reason to be bought.” Oil prices dropped back slightly yesterday, having been driven sharply higher after Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, tightened his grip on power through an anti-corruption purge by arresting some members of the kingdom’s political and business elite. The campaign of mass arrests expanded on Monday after a top entrepreneur was reportedly detained in the biggest anti-corruption purge of the kingdom’s affluent elite in its modern history. Reuters.