Spot gold was down 4.9% to $ 1,854.44 an ounce as of 10:11 pm IST, while US gold futures were down 4.9% to $ 1,855.30.
Spot prices beat a sharp pullback from a nearly two-month high of $ 1,965.33 reached earlier in the session amid a weaker dollar and hopes for more stimulus following Joe Biden’s victory in the US election.
The shares rose after Pfizer Inc said its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective. Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE said they hope to apply for the US emergency use authorization later this month.
“(The news) really exceeded the best-case scenario of all. There was growing nervousness that we might not get a solid vaccine result, so this unleashed risk in trading and, for gold, signaled a mass exodus of safe haven games, “he added. said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.
However, he added that “the economy still needs a lot of support and only 50 million doses (of vaccines) will be available, so we are not safe from the virus and calls for stimulus will increase.”
Bullion, a hedge against currency devaluation and inflation, is up 24% this year, mostly driven by unprecedented stimulus fueled by a global pandemic.
“If you think you live in the best of worlds, you don’t need gold,” said Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann.
“However, this assessment appears to be premature. And we have often seen in the past that at prices below $ 1,900, buying interest will enter the market; we would expect that to happen again this time.”
Other precious metals were also sold, with silver falling 7.3% to $ 23.72 an ounce, platinum falling 4.2% to $ 857.80 and palladium losing 0.8% to $ 2.471, 32.
.
