Gold fell 1 percent on Thursday, hitting a four-month bottom below its recent trading range, as Wall Street stocks rose and the US dollar strengthened on optimism about passage of a US tax overhaul. Spot gold dropped 1 percent to $1,251.11 an ounce by 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT), bouncing off a four-month low of $1,250.51. US gold futures for February delivery settled down $13, 1 percent, at $1,253.10 per ounce.
Gold broke out of its recent trading range this week after slipping below its $1,267 200-day moving average. Since mid-October, prices had stayed between $1,265 and $1,300 an ounce as investors poured money into the stock market, which hit a series of record highs. The stock market gains dicouraged gold buying, as did expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise US interest rates this month.
"From a technical point of view, many traders had stop-losses just below $1,262, and today the market is going down for this reason," said ActivTrades chief analyst Carlo Alberto de Casa. Among other precious metals, silver dropped 1.1 percent to $15.79 an ounce after slipping to its lowest since mid-July at $15.72.
Platinum slid 1.2 percent at $890.74 an ounce, earlier touching its lowest since July 11 at $889.50. The metal has fallen nearly 5 percent this week and is on track for its biggest weekly loss in nine months. Palladium was up 1.8 percent at $1,011 an ounce.