The price of gold dropped to a six-month low on Thursday as tensions in the Middle East, growing expectations of US interest rate rises and the looming SpaceX initial public offering piled pressure on bullion.
Gold fell more than 1 per cent to touch $4,022 per troy ounce on Thursday morning, its lowest level since late November and leaving it on course for its worst quarter of performance in almost a decade. It was later trading up slightly on the day at $4,085.
The yellow metal has fallen more than 20 per cent since the beginning of the war in the Middle East, which has forced some central banks to sell gold to help defend their currencies. It has also triggered an exodus of the speculative investors who had driven a bullion-buying frenzy late last year and early this year.