Gold falls on U.S. equities gain, Soros comment

By Frank Tang

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gold fell on Monday as a stronger performance in U.S. equities and a dollar rise prompted investors to take profits after its rally in the previous session.

Bullion market sentiment was also weakened after billionaire financier George Soros said gold has been destroyed as a safe-haven asset, even though central-bank buying should support prices.

With a lack of major U.S. economic indicators on Monday, investors turned to buy riskier assets such as U.S. equities at gold's expense. The S&P 500 was up around 0.3 percent and has sharply outperformed gold year to date.

"We are going to hold here until that next catalyst comes. On the upside, the funds appear done liquidating, and gold should move its way back up once the liquidation is done," said Phillip Streible, senior commodities broker at futures brokerage RJ O'Brien.

Spot gold dropped 0.6 percent to $1,572.75 an ounce by 2:56 p.m. EDT (1856 GMT).

On Friday, gold surged nearly 2 percent for its biggest one-day gain in around five months as disappointing U.S. jobs data fueled expectations the Federal Reserve will continue its bullion-friendly bond purchases.

U.S. gold futures for June delivery settled down $3.40 at $1,572.50 an ounce on Monday. Trading volume was about 40 percent below its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed.

Gold buying dwindled after George Soros told the South China Morning Post that "gold was destroyed as a safe haven" as the metal's recent lackluster performance showed it was unsafe.

Soros also said he expects gold to be supported because of buying by central banks, but the metal could stay very volatile with no definite trend on a longer-term basis.

Year to date, gold is down 6 percent after it had posted an annual gain in each of the past 12 years.

ETF OUTFLOWS, FOMC MINUTES EYED

Investor interest continued to recede, with bullion holdings at the world's major gold exchange-traded funds edging down on Friday. They fell in the previous week to their lowest since August 2012.

Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said that gold prices looked vulnerable in the short term after last's week drop to 10-month low, and continued outflows of gold ETFs and bearish bets by short-term investors could further pressure the metal.

The release of the FOMC meeting minutes on Wednesday is likely to be the next main economic event for the market, analysts said.

Among other precious metals, silver fell 0.3 percent to $27.21.

Platinum was up 0.2 percent to $1,533.99, and palladium climbed 0.2 percent to $727.97.

(Additional reporting by Clara Denina in London; Editing by Peter Galloway)