LONDON: Gold hit a six-month low on Friday, on course for its largest annual loss in 32 years, as the US Federal Reserve's first step away from ultra-loose monetary policy further undermined the investor case for holding bullion.
The Fed said this week that the US economy was strong enough for its massive bond-buying scheme to be scaled back, winding down an era of easy money that saw gold rally to an all-time high of $1,920.30 an ounce in 2011. "If you look at the global economy and the outlook for monetary policy we are in an environment where we are going to need a much bigger problem in the world than we foresee for gold to recapture any of its lustre," Baring Asset Management investment manager Andrew Cole said.
He said the fund had dissolved its exposure to bullion around six weeks ago. "Our fear would be that investors will want to keep cutting their exposure to gold in 2014 because there are other assets like equities that pay them to be involved and you don't earn anything owning gold."
The metal lost 2.3 percent in the previous session, making it the major financial benchmark hardest hit by the US central bank's taper, which will raise the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold.
Spot gold hit its lowest since June on Friday at $1,185.10 an ounce, closing in on a 3-1/2-year low touched earlier that month, after the Fed first cast doubt on the scope of its stimulus as the economy started healing.
The market clawed back some ground, up 0.6 percent at $1,196.30 by 1038 GMT on pockets of physical buying, but remained vulnerable to further losses. US gold futures for February delivery rose $1.50 an ounce to $1,195.10.
Prices are down around 3 percent this week, and some 29 percent year-to-date, halting a 12-year run of gains.
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