London — Gold steadied on Wednesday after a surge in the dollar and US bond yields in the previous session had pushed prices down 1.7% to their lowest this year. Tuesday’s fall was the biggest since November 2016. Gold crashed below its technically important 200-day moving average and the psychologically significant $1,300 mark to $1,288.31, the weakest since December 28. "Rising US bond yields and a stronger dollar were factors behind gold’s decline below the $1,300 level, said National Australia Bank economist John Sharma. "The slight pick up [on Wednesday] suggests there might have been some opportunistic buying on the part of investors." Spot gold was up 0.1% at $1,290.86 an ounce at 11.04am GMT, while US gold futures for June delivery were flat at $1,290.30. A stronger dollar hurts gold by making it more expensive for holders of other currencies, while higher bond yields make non-yielding bullion less attractive to investors. The dollar rose further on Wednesday to a new 2018 h...
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