Gold slid below $1,400 an ounce on Wednesday, losing two percent and hitting its lowest in nearly a month as a record rally in US equities and economic optimism undermined bullion's safe-haven appeal. The metal fell for a fifth straight session for its longest daily losing streak since January 2011 as the S&P 500 hit a new all-time high and Wall Street has risen for four consecutive sessions.
"There is no reason to own gold as long as people keep on putting money into the stock market. You can see it everywhere that the economy is turning around," said Comex gold options floor trader Jonathan Jossen. A pause in strong physical demand after news India restricted imports to cut trading deficit also weighed on gold. Spot gold dropped as much as 2.5 percent to $1,390.24, its lowest since April 19. It was down 2 percent at $1,396.94 an ounce by 2:09 pm EDT (1809 GMT). In other precious metals, silver fell 2.7 percent to $22.72 an ounce, platinum was down 0.5 percent to $1,489.24 an ounce and palladium dropped 0.1 percent to $725.72 an ounce.