Gold fell in London on speculation that demand from investors stalled and as a drop in oil prices diminished the attraction of the metal as a hedge against inflation.

“The next move is most likely to be down,” said Matthew Turner, an analyst at VM Group in London. “The ETF purchases have dried up and it has been a bit overextended.”

Gold for immediate delivery fell US$5.31, or 0.6 percent, to $911.34 an ounce at 12:33 p.m. in London, retreating from a 3.4 percent advance last week. Futures for June declined $3.40, or 0.4 percent, to $911.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

“People’s perception of risk, particularly among the banking sector, has diminished and a lot of uncertainty, that has been dominating the market, is gone for the time being,” said Tom Kendall, a precious-metals strategist at Mitsubishi Corp. in London.

Gold also fell as the dollar strengthened. The US Dollar Index, which tracks the currency against the euro and five other monies, advanced 0.3 percent, diminishing the appeal of the metal as an alternative investment.

Crude oil dropped as much as 2.7 percent, after gaining 10 percent last week.

“Inflation is going to happen, with all the injections that are going on right now into the financial world,” Afshin Nabavi, senior vice president at bullion refiner MKS Finance SA in Geneva, said by phone.

Bullion may rally

Bullion may rally later this year, said Tobias Merath, head of commodity research at Credit Suisse Group.

“Gold has hit a bottom and is on its way up,” Merath said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. “It won’t be easy to break the $1,000 mark, we think that could happen in the early part of the third quarter, because the third quarter is also usually the part of the year where gold prices do best.”

Source: Bloomberg