Reuters

London

Gold fell yesterday, on course for its largest annual loss in 32 years, as thin pre-holiday trade and signs of an improving US economy growth kept investors fretting over the impact of the Federal Reserve’s stimulus tapering.

The metal posted its biggest weekly loss in a month after the Fed’s decision to start scaling back its bond-buying stimulus, which was followed by upbeat GDP data.

“Gold is in a bit of a limbo now because we know that the Fed starting to reduce their bond buying is a reality and the dollar should hold relatively strong from here,” VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said.

“I would argue that there is support at $1,190 ... but there may be more downside as it doesn’t take much to move the market in thin holiday trading.”

Spot gold fell 0.6% to $1,195an ounce by 1051 GMT. It had briefly rebounded above $1,200 an ounce in earlier trade as investors found value in the metal after prices lost 4% in the previous three sessions.

Gold hit its lowest since June on Friday at $1,185.10 an ounce, closing in on a 3-1/2-year low touched earlier that month, after the Federal Reserve’s first step away from ultra-loose monetary policy further undermined the investor case for holding bullion.

The Fed said last week that the US economy was strong enough for its bond-buying scheme to be scaled back, winding down an era of easy money that saw gold rally to an all-time high of $1,920.30 an ounce in 2011.

Gold was the hardest hit major financial benchmark by the US central bank’s taper, which will raise the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold.

The metal has fallen nearly 30% this year, putting an end to 12 straight years of growth and reflecting expectations that economic recovery would bring an end to quantitative easing.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 5.40 tonnes to 814.12 tonnes on Friday – the first inflow since November 5. The fund, which accounts for around 40% of total ETF holdings, saw a record outflow of more than 450 tonnes in 2013 to the lowest level in nearly five years.

Outflows from the top eight gold ETFs have totalled about 720 tonnes as investors channelled more money to riskier assets like equities.

“Unsurprisingly, nearly half of the December selling in ETFs occurred last week ahead of and immediately following the FOMC,” MKS Capital said in a note.

“This liquidation is likely to continue into year end due to tax implications.”