Gold may fall from current high, but a drop below $1,700 unlikely

For all its fake advantages, the metal has one genuinely useful property - its unrivalled ability to move in the opposite direction to equities and bond yields

Has gold’s bubble just burst? The spot metal fell 5.7 per cent on Tuesday, the sharpest drop in seven years and a remarkable slump for an asset that rarely shifts more than a percentage point in a day. It fell further on Wednesday, as low as $1,863 an ounce, breaking the back of an extraordinary rally. Since smashing through a long-term ceiling of around $1,350 a troy ounce last June, it had risen to a record of $2,064 an ounce earlier this month.

Despite that, much of the bull run over the past year has been a long overdue correction from