London — Gold tumbled to its lowest price in nearly six weeks as a large sell order hit sentiment on Monday, though losses were limited by political uncertainty around the world. Spot gold was down 0.9% at $1,245.40 an ounce by 2pm GMT, having dropped as far as $1,236.46, its lowest since May 17. US gold futures slid by 1.1% to $1,242.30. The sale of 18,500 lots of gold, totalling 1.85-million ounces, and 5,000 ounces of silver in 5,500 lots on Comex in a short space of time was behind falling prices, said Afshin Nabavi, head of trading at MKS in Switzerland. "Clearly somebody sold it by mistake and bought it back quickly, triggering stops below $1,250," said MKS trader Bernard Sin. UBS trader Joni Teves said the sudden drop in price was amplified by a lack of liquidity as some Asian markets were closed for a holiday while London was just opening. Looking more broadly, traders said gold was supported by geopolitical uncertainty related a bailout of Italian banks, the policies of US ...
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