Gold set for worst monthly fall in 4 years as dollar strengthens

Gold in the international market declined on Wednesday and was on track for the biggest monthly fall in nearly four years, as the dollar benefited from caution that crept into the financial markets after the first US presidential debate.

Spot gold dropped 0.67 per cent to $1,885.4 an ounce (until 7.35 pm IST), declining 4.3 per cent in September. This set gold up for its worst monthly performance since November 2016.  Silver, too, slipped 1.69 per cent to $23.87 an ounce and was on track for its first monthly contraction since March, falling more than 16%.

In Mumbai, standard gold closed at Rs 50,240 per 10 gram on Wednesday, against Tuesday's closing of Rs 50,245. Silver closed at  Rs 59,974 a kg.

Gold traded under pressure as prices pared previous gains on stronger dollar amid rising hopes for US stimulus package, said Tapan Patel, senior analyst (commodities), HDFC Securities.  Independ-ent analyst Ross Norman said: "I think from gold's perspective, it (the election debate) was a non-event and all we saw gold doing was honouring its inverse relationship with the dollar."  He said gold still had momentum but had probably made most of its gains this year.