London — Gold fell on Tuesday as reinforced expectations of an increase to US interest rates in March pushed the dollar higher, although political and economic uncertainty in Europe and the US is likely to offer continued price support.Spot gold was down 0.7% at $1,229.60/oz by 10.16am GMT but has still gained more than 6% since the start of the year. The dollar strengthened after Federal Reserve members pointed to the potential for higher US rates in March, making commodities priced in the currency more expensive for non-US buyers. "Gold is capped by the likelihood that US monetary policy will be tighter at some stage, potentially in March," said Société Générale analyst Robin Bhar."There is a lot of political uncertainty, there are safe-haven flows going into gold." Bhar added that gold was also an investment hedge against corrections in what looked to be overvalued equities.Investor demand for gold can be seen in the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund (ETF), SPDR G...
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